Fall Into Dusk
by Above the Winter Moonlight
Summary: Vengeance, loyalty, atonement, friendship, love; all come into conflict as chaos threatens to descend. A twist in fate leads to two best friends leading a rebellion against Britannia, which will decide the fate of the world, while struggling to overcome the dangers, secrets, lies, and betrayals that surround them.
1. Nightmares of Devastation

**Disclaimer:** I do not own _Code Geass._ I never have, I never will and I am only saying this once so I will not repeat it in later chapters.

 **. . .**

 **. . .**

 **Fall Into Dusk**

 **. . .**

 **. . .**

 **1**

 **Nightmares of Devastation**

 _The shadows did little to provide them with shelter or safety and Lelouch cradled his little sister close to him. The shadows melded together with the blood that stained the ground and the fires that raged from building to building. Smoke filled the air, making it difficult to breathe, and Lelouch coughed as he struggled to make out any sign of where his friends had ended up._

 _He saw nothing beyond the blood and the fire and the darkness that drifted across the land as the sun disappeared beyond the horizon. No stars. No moon. It was a quiet, black night. Nothing but darkness and the stench of blood and the smell of smoke and the feel of heat from the burning fires…_

Lelouch Lamperouge sat up sharply, a soft gasp escaping his lips as the nightmare, a nightmare that he hasn't had in many years, echoed in his head. Swinging his legs off his bed, Lelouch stood up and walked to the window in his room, peering out at the sleeping Ashford Academy campus, resting his forehead against it.

 _Just what made me think about that?_ He thought. He didn't know. It had just hit suddenly; he knew that he was likely to never forget what happened during the invasion but, recently, his nightmares only ever came back when something triggered them. And he couldn't figure out just what had triggered them this time.

It was early morning, about an hour before he usually woke up, and it was Saturday, which meant that he could have slept in a bit. Milly had a Student Council meeting scheduled for noon and Lelouch was planning on going with Rivalz to gamble afterward but he didn't have anything else planned, beyond having breakfast and dinner with his little sister Nunnally.

Deciding that it was unlikely he was going to get back to sleep, Lelouch wandered over to his dresser and changed before leaving his room. The apartment within the East Wing of the Student Council Clubhouse was eerily quiet since no one else was up; Nunnally usually slept in until about ten on the weekends and Sayoko had likely already left since she said, the day before, that she would be going shopping in the morning. And she was more of a morning person than Lelouch and Nunnally were; if there was one thing that Lelouch and Nunnally had in common, it was that they weren't morning people.

It made their time at the Kururugi Shrine interesting, especially whenever Suzaku and Shintaro had to team up to get them both up in the morning.

Lelouch frowned and pushed the thought out of his mind. He hadn't thought about the two friends he'd made at the Kururugi Shrine seven years ago in years either; they had both grown to be his first and best friends but they'd gone their separate ways about a week before the invasion ended and he hadn't heard from them since. He hoped that they were all right, especially Suzaku; he was an emotional wreck when Lelouch last saw him, which was why Shintaro had decided to stay with him for a bit longer.

But, considering what Suzaku had been unfortunate enough to witness, Lelouch could readily understand.

He, himself, had witnessed something similar a few months before he came to Japan.

Forcing himself not to go down that particular lane of memory, Lelouch set out to gather the supplies he would need for his little sister's breakfast, deciding on making her favorite, which he usually did during the weekends. On the weekdays, they were usually too busy trying to get to class on time—when Lelouch wasn't skipping—that they usually only grabbed an apple or a slice of toast before leaving.

Saturdays were different. Saturdays were Lelouch's favorite day of the week because he could usually spend the entire day with his little sister with it just being the two of them, especially since it was only occasionally that Milly would schedule a Student Council meeting on the weekend. Nunnally attended those meetings, even though she was only an honorary member, but Lelouch cherished the days he could spend bonding with just his sister.

Cooking would also help him get his mind off his nightmare. Talking with Nunnally always helped him get his mind off his nightmares too. He never really discussed them with his little sister because he didn't want Nunnally to have to be burdened with the same dark memories that Lelouch was shouldering; while she had heard most of what happened during the invasion, she had been fortunate that she hadn't witnessed what Lelouch, Suzaku, and Shintaro had witnessed.

The same images that were, for some reason Lelouch still couldn't figure out, haunting him again.

Lelouch didn't know how much time had passed by since he woke up; he was busy in the kitchen, having washed the dishes, made himself breakfast, and worked on Nunnally's breakfast, when he heard the door to the kitchen slid open.

"Good morning, Nunnally," he said without turning around as he heard the whir of Nunnally's wheelchair as she guided herself into the kitchen and to the table.

"Good morning, Big Brother. Ohh, something smells good? What're you making?" Nunnally asked and Lelouch glanced at her over his shoulder as she tilted her head to the side, her eyes peacefully closed to the rest of the world but her face easily revealing curiosity.

"Your favorite," Lelouch said, turning his attention back to the stove.

"Pancakes! What's the occasion?" Nunnally asked, though Lelouch could hear the excitement in her voice.

He chuckled. "Does there really have to be an occasion to make your favorite breakfast, Little Sister?" he asked.

"It's been a while since we've had pancakes, Big Brother," Nunnally admitted with a smile.

"True. What do you want on yours?" Lelouch placed two pancakes on a plate, cutting them into little squares to make it easier for his little sister to eat, and walked over to the fridge, opening it and scanning the contents. "We have blueberries, strawberries..."

"Strawberries," Nunnally said in an instant.

Lelouch laughed lightly. "I should've guessed," he said with a warm smile, even though he knew his little sister couldn't see it. The smile became a bit pained at that reminder but Lelouch pushed it away; despite her handicaps, Nunnally was happy and that was all Lelouch cared about.

Pulling out a container of strawberries from the fridge and a bottle of syrup from the cabinets, Lelouch chopped the strawberries up into smaller pieces and placing them on the plate of pancake bites. After pouring some syrup over the breakfast, he walked over to join Nunnally, placing the plate in front of her and handing her the fork.

"Oh, it smells really good! You've gotten to be a good cook, Big Brother," Nunnally said as, with some help from Lelouch, she began to eat. "Mmm, just as good as usual."

Lelouch chuckled. "I'm a quick learner," he said. Sayoko had been the one to teach him how to cook when he was fourteen, when he'd stubbornly decided that he wanted to cook for Nunnally too, and he'd been very quick to absorb everything she taught him. He'd always been like that; quick to learn and understand anything that he was being taught. Having a very good memory helped, which was why he was managing to pass his classes despite skipping or dozing through most of them, except for P.E. P.E. was the bane of Lelouch's existence, which was why he hardly ever went; he only went when he absolutely had to in order to pass the class. It was a shame that he still had to take it; he hated exercise with a passion.

Unlike Suzaku, who was an exercise nut, and Shintaro, who didn't mind exercise just not all the time.

Lelouch frowned again. _Why am I thinking about them today? Was it just because of that nightmare,_ _even if they had never even made an appearance_ _?_ He thought.

"You okay, Big Brother? You've been quiet for some time," Nunnally asked in concern, turning to face him, syrup slipping down her jaw.

Lelouch picked up the napkin and gently wiped the syrup away. "Just thinking. I'm okay, Nunnally," he reassured her.

"You sure?

"Yeah, I'm sure." _It's probably 'cause the nightmare reminded me of the invasion and that's why I've been thinking about Suzaku and Shintaro,_ he thought.

"So what're we gonna do today, Big Brother?" Nunnally asked, apparently deciding not to question him further, even though her brow still furrowed just a little bit. She gave him a beaming smile as she finished off her pancakes and stretched out a hand to him.

He took her hand. "Milly has a Student Council meeting at noon and, after that, I'm probably just going to go into the settlement for a bit," he said, releasing her hand and patting the top of it. "Tonight, we'll have dinner. How does lasagna sound?"

Nunnally beamed. "You know that's my favorite dinner too. Is there an occasion that I forgot about or something?" she asked.

Lelouch laughed and ruffled his little sister's hair. "No, I just decided to make your favorites today, that's all, Little Sister," he said with a fond, loving smile.

Nunnally giggled. "Okay, Big Brother," she said with a smile.

Lelouch glanced at the time. _11:30_. "Huh, I didn't realize that much time had gone by," he commented, vaguely recalling that Nunnally had gotten up later than usual. "We should head over to the meeting room. Don't wanna be late or Milly will have my head."

Nunnally giggled and Lelouch, once he put Nunnally's breakfast plate and silverware away, walked over to Nunnally's wheelchair. Even if she could drive it herself, she didn't mind it when Lelouch pushed for a bit.

"Aren't you going to eat something, Big Brother?" Nunnally asked.

"I ate already," Lelouch said as he guided the wheelchair away from the table and out of the kitchen, heading for the elevator that would take them to the first floor of the clubhouse. "I got up a bit earlier than I intended."

"Oh. Everything okay?" There was concern in Nunnally's voice.

"Everything's fine, Little Sister. I just woke up early and couldn't get back to sleep," Lelouch assured her, not wanting to tell her about his nightmare, nor did he want to relive it himself. He still didn't know what had triggered the return of that nightmare but he decided against worrying about it for now.

 **. . .**

 _She stumbled toward the bloodstained body her brother was crouched over._ _H_ _er eyes_ _were_ _wide with horror and disbelie_ _f a_ _s_ _she_ _struggled to keep in the chocked sob that was threatening to escape her throat. The alley that she, her brother, and their mother had taken refuge_ _was empty now, save for her, her brother and..._

 _She_ _collapsed_ _next to the motionless form of her mother, tears streaking down her face. "Kaa-san! Kaa-san!" She cried as she grabbed her mother's motionless hand, gazing at her mother's ashen skin, the crimson stains on her body, her glassy eyes staring emptily into the sky…_

Kallen Kozuki gasped and she jerked herself out of the memory she had unintentionally landed in when she had lied down in the den for a quick nap. Sitting up and wiping away the tears that had streaked down her face, Kallen looked at the grandfather clock that ticked away above the fireplace. _3:05PM_.

 _Two hours. I've been asleep for two hours. I'm surprised the bitch hasn't come to wake me up yet,_ she thought, covering her mouth when she yawned as she climbed out of the couch, running a hand through her unruly red locks.

She hadn't thought about that day, that tragic, unfortunate, wrong-place-at-wrong-time day, in years but she couldn't get it out of her mind now. It was forever imprinted on her mind as a reminder that she was truly all alone in the world; her father was back at Pendragon, and Kallen didn't give a damn about him, her bitch of a stepmother was, well, a _bitch,_ and Naoto…

 _Naoto…_

Kallen closed her eyes, resting the palm of her hand on the door frame as she struggled to control her emotions. The last thing she wanted was for her bitch of a stepmother to see her crying; the last thing she wanted was to give that bitch more ammunition to cruelly mock her with, and make Kallen have to reign in her temper before she knocked the bitch's teeth out. But she couldn't help a few treacherous tears escaping.

Three months. It had been three months since she had last seen Naoto, had last seen her brother. He had been on a mission with the resistance that he had formed six months prior to that mission, a mission that turned out to be a total bust; not only was half of the team caught by Britannia and executed, the other half had been so critically injured that most of them died, and Naoto had gone missing.

No one had heard anything from him for three months. They didn't know if he was dead or alive. They didn't know if he had been captured by Britannia or not. They knew nothing.

And it devastated Kallen that the only member of her family that she truly cared about was missing and no one knew anything about his whereabouts or his condition. He could be dead in a gutter somewhere and Kallen hated that she didn't know. She hated that she couldn't look for her brother too; she wanted to look for him but it would be far too suspicious if she tried. Naoto had been disowned by their father when he was eighteen and had stormed out of the Stadtfeld Manor after telling both of their parents to "fuck off" so she wasn't supposed to care.

Not if she wanted to keep on the somewhat good side of her stepmother.

Not if she wanted her true loyalties to her Japanese half, as opposed to her Britannian half, to be revealed.

Naoto had told her that the morning that he left. He told her that he wanted her to remain where it was safe.

 _"At least until you're eighteen, Kallen-_ chan. _Then they legally can't do a damn thing if you decide to leave._ _Now, though, they can. Besides, you're safer here._ "

Kallen had wanted to argue, had wanted to demand her brother to let her go with him, not wanting to lose the only member of her family she loved that was still alive. But, upon seeing the desperation in her brother's eyes, she reluctantly gave in.

It was only a few years later that Naoto formed his resistance.

Three months after that, Kallen had started helping out with the resistance in any way that she could without revealing her loyalties to Britannia, doing things that her brother decided wouldn't be too risky. Even if she was irritated that her brother coddled her, at least he was willing to let her help a little bit so she let it go.

Then, three months after that, he was gone.

Clenching her hands into a fist, Kallen took a deep breath to calm herself when she heard the noise of one of the family maids cleaning nearby. Not wanting anyone to catch her crying, she took a few more deep breaths, letting them out slowly as she calmed herself down. Wiping the tear stains off her cheeks, Kallen opened the door to the den and walked out of it.

She disappeared into the kitchen to grab something to eat before returning to the den to eat it. As she found herself curled up on the couch, chewing on her sandwich, her gaze was drawn to the book that had fallen to the floor. She vaguely recalled that she had been looking through that book when she'd fallen asleep.

She wasn't a big reader but, mostly out of curiosity, she had decided to take a look at her big brother's favorite novel and found that she was actually enjoying it.

Finishing her sandwich, Kallen reached down to pick up the book, only for the bookmark she'd been using to fall out. _Great, now I'm gonna have to skim the book to find where I was,_ she thought as she reached down to pick up the bookmark.

"What are you doing?" Her bitch of a stepmother's voice echoed in the silence of the den.

Bookmark in hand, Kallen leaned back against the couch cushions, giving the bitch a cool look. "Reading. What does it look like?" she said, barely able to keep a sneer out of her voice. Some of her loathing must have slipped into her voice because her stepmother's nostrils flared in irritation.

"You've been in here for the past three hours," she said.

"Don't pretend like you care," Kallen snorted, turning her attention back to the book and flipping through the pages to try to find the page she'd left off on. "What do you want?"

"You're as insolent as ever," the bitch said with a snort. "We hired a new maid."

"And I care why?"

"Show her around. I have important things to take care of," the bitch said.

 _Yeah, like another manicure and getting your hair done,_ Kallen thought scornfully but she reluctantly put her bookmark into the book at a random page—she'd have to go back and find the actual page she was on later—and stood up.

"I'll send her in. At least try to look presentable and not like you just rolled out of bed," the bitch said and strode out of the den.

Kallen resisted the urge to throw the book at the back of her bitch of a stepmother's head.

The door to the den opened a few moments later and a shy Japanese girl around Kallen's age stepped into the room; she had peach-colored hair that went to the middle of her back held away from her face by two black hair clips and dark-blue eyes. She was dressed in a white button up shirt with a torn dark-blue jacket over it and dark-blue jeans that were torn at the knees.

"Um, Mrs. Stadtfeld said that you'd show me around, Miss," she said.

Kallen's eyes softened and she walked over to join the girl. "None of that 'Miss' stuff. I'm Kallen. What's your name?" she asked, holding out a hand.

The girl seemed surprised. "Um, I'm Yumiko, Miss Kallen," she said, taking her hand hesitantly and shaking it.

"It's just Kallen. Come on. I'll show you around," Kallen said. _It would be just like the bitch to hire someone who'_ _s_ _Japanese to work here. She knows that I hate seeing my own people working like slaves for bitches like her._ _God_ _, I hate that bitch!_ She thought but pushed the thoughts out of her mind and gave the girl Yumiko a warm smile.

The girl was Japanese after all and working as a maid was one of the few jobs that Japanese people could obtain without going through the Honorary Britannian program. Those who did go through with that program were just traitors to their own people and Kallen resented them for it.

Even so, working as a maid for someone like Lady Stadtfeld was pretty horrible and Kallen pitied the girl who was likely just trying to make ends meet without becoming a traitor to her people.

She decided, as she led Yumiko out of the den, that she would try to make the girl's stay at the Stadtfeld Manor as comfortable as possible. It was the least she could do for her fellow Japanese.

 **. . .**

 _Flames. Flames. So many flames. Explosions. Bright. Fierce. Loud. She covered her ears, struggling to block out the noise, block out the screams of agony from those unfortunate enough to get caught in the blast. But she couldn't block it all out; she could still hear their screams, muffled though they were._

 _She felt tears streak down her soot-covered face as she stumbled away from the devastated city engulfed in flames. Craters filled with bloodstained bodies or bodies charred beyond recognize. She had to get away. Craters filled with debris. The stench that arose from burned bodies. The coppery stench of blood…_

With the last remnants of a scream on her lips, Satomi Ihara jolted out of her sleep and sat up so sharply that the room spun for a moment. Gasping as a cold sweat covered her skin, she drew her knees to her chest and wrapped he arms around them, burying her face into her knees, her shoulders trembling with restrained sobs.

So much devastation. She had never really forgotten what happened seven years ago. She had never gotten over it like others would assume. She still suffered from nightmares, though they no longer occurred every night since she'd started talking with Katai, who'd been a licensed therapist before the invasion. She doubted that they would ever truly go away; Katai had told her that was the nature of experiencing a trauma. It did not just go away, no matter how much she wanted it to.

She took a few deep breaths, releasing them slowly and trying to calm herself down. Meditate. That was what Katai told her. He said that it might help and Satomi had learned that it did a bit, even if it usually only calmed her down. It was enough.

The memories still clung to the forefronts of Satomi's mind and she decided that she needed to get her mind off it. She needed to do something so she decided to walk around the base and see where everyone was. After their latest mission, of which they had stayed out all night and part of the morning trying to get the supplies they needed while avoiding the Britannians, Matsuo had told them to get some rest. Satomi had told them that she was going to take a nap and asked Eisaku to wake her up in two hours.

That was four hours ago.

Satomi made a mental note to track Eisaku down and ask him why he didn't wake her up as he said he would.

Folding her arms behind her head, Satomi gazed up at the ceiling. Seven years. It had been seven years since the invasion and she had changed quite a bit during that time; she used to be shy but, while she did get shy around newcomers, she was much more social than before. That helped her with her skills as a pickpocket and had helped her survive the five years that she'd been on her own before Izumi and Matsuo found her.

They'd given her a roof over her head and fed her and Matsuo insisted that she didn't have to repay them. She insisted that she had to; it was the honorable thing to do and if there was one thing that Satomi took away from all of her father's lessons, it was to always try to do the honorable thing.

She paused at the top of the staircase, sadness and brief traces of anger going through her as she thought about her father, her kind, always laughing father who was also an honorable and ruthless fighter, who refused to just let Britannia walk all over them. He would have fought Britannia to the ends of the world if…

She shoved the thought viciously out of her mind, not wanting to relive that particular incident. She could never get the image out of her mind; her father's bloodstained body, the culprit...the culprit…

She slammed her fist into the wall as she fell to her knees, tears springing into her eyes, the memory of what happened returning to her head. She always reacted like this whenever she remembered that incident but she couldn't help it; the betrayal haunted her day and night, it would not leave her alone, even more so than the memories of the invasion. The resentment, the hatred, the bitterness, the sadness; it all resonated deep within her whenever that incident came back into her mind, whenever she thought about _him._

"Satomi- _chan_? Are you okay?"

At the sound of Katai Takemura's voice, Satomi lifted her head to find the kind dark-green haired man kneeling down beside her, concern in his light-brown eyes. Swallowing, she nodded slowly, brushing aside a few strands of messy auburn hair that had stuck to her face because of the tears. "I...I'm okay," she said.

"Are you sure?" Katai asked, sitting back on his heels. "You know you can talk to me about anything."

"I know," Satomi sighed, turning her blue gaze to the ceiling above. "I just...I can't talk about this. I mean...I know it's been seven years but I just can't talk about it. I don't know why. I just can't."

 _But you do know why. It's because you don't want to betray him, even though he's already betrayed you and your family,_ an inner voice said in the back of Satomi's mind and she shoved it away, even though a part of her believed those words to be true.

"I understand," Katai said, pushing himself to his feet. "Whenever you're ready to talk about it, you know where to find me. Anyway, I was just about to come and wake you up. Ayame's making an early dinner since Matsuo has something to tell us."

"Another mission?" Satomi asked eagerly. She wanted to help out and Matsuo was willing to let her help out, stating that she was seventeen and old enough to make her own decisions, and she would be very thankful if she could be doing something. It would help take her mind off her nightmare, and _him_.

"Something like that, though I doubt it's going to be very big, not after what happened last night," Katai said.

Satomi frowned. She knew that last night hadn't exactly been the best outcome but, at least, they got the supplies that they were trying to get, even though two of their members had been killed as a result. It did scare Satomi a little but, after two years of working with Matsuo and his men, she'd slowly grown accustomed to the idea that her life would be in danger from the moment she decided to fight to free her country from Britannia.

She knew the risks.

She knew that she faced death every time she went out on missions.

But she would still do it.

Otherwise, she would never forgive herself for not being brave enough to continue along the path that her father had already started walking. Her brave, kind father who was willing to fight back even though he knew that he might be killed by Britannia as a result.

Even if that wasn't how he ended up dying…

Satomi shoved that thought away again.

Either way, she wanted to be brave like her father. She had decided, when she turned seventeen, that she wanted to fight back for her country, she wanted to free them and that was why she was taking a more active role with Matsuo and his men.

 _Father, would you be proud of me? That I'm fighting back just as you would have had things been different?_ Satomi thought.

"Satomi- _chan?_ "

Satomi pulled herself out of her thoughts and turned to Katai who was watching her in concern again. "Oh, sorry, did I space out again? And did you say something?" she asked with a faint blush of embarrassment on her cheeks. She had a tendency of getting so wrapped up in her thoughts that she often missed some things that were said to her.

Katai shook his head. "I was just going to ask if you're ready to head down for dinner or if you want to stare at the wall for the rest of the day," he said.

Satomi frowned at him. "Of course I want dinner. It's Ayame's cooking! At least it's not Eisaku's turn to cook," she said. She was pretty sure Eisaku could burn water.

Katai chuckled. "I'm pretty sure everyone is thankful for that," he said as he led the way down the stairs and Satomi followed him. They walked down the dust-covered hallway and into the kitchen, the only truly clean part of the abandoned hotel.

"Morning, Sleeping Beauty," Eisaku Takizawa greeted her with a wave of his fork, his long light-blue hair tied at the nape of his neck. Ayame Kyubei, her lavender-purple hair in a tight bun, was already handing out the plates of food; hamburger patties covered with cheese, a handful of salty chips, and a strip of bacon.

Satomi narrowed her eyes and she stomped over to Eisaku, poking him hard in the shoulder. "You were supposed to wake me up after two hours," she said firmly.

"I was?" Eisaku blinked.

Satomi huffed, snatched Eisaku's bacon off his plate and walked to her seat, munching on the slice of bacon even as Eisaku whined, "Ayame! She stole my bacon!"

Ayame chuckled as she handed Satomi her plate and then handed Katai's to him. "Unfortunately, I only had enough in the packet for one slice each," she said. "We were really lucky to get that much during our last food raid."

"We're going to have to go on another food raid soon," Matsuo said, biting into his slice of bacon.

Satomi nodded in agreement but then noticed that they were missing a member. "Where's Yumiko?" she asked.

Matsuo finished his slice of bacon. "On her next mission," he said. "Just enjoy your dinner and I'll explain everything afterward."

Satomi frowned but nodded and went back to eating, smirking at Eisaku who was glaring at her and muttering "Bacon thief" under his breath.

 **. . .**

 _The hail of bullets came to an end and he slowly peeked out from around the garbage dumpster he'd been shoved behind by his mother. He swallowed, his eyes wide as he gazed at the bloodstained form of his mother but didn't dare move until the Britannian soldiers had moved away._

 _Once they were gone, he slowly moved to his mother's side and took her hand. She gazed at him with rapidly glazing eyes. "I wish...that I could have...seen Japan as a...free nation again and...that we...could have...been a family...without any...worries," she whispered weakly before her eyes drifted closed and she went limp._

Naoto Kozuki jolted out of the sleep he had involuntarily fallen into, blinking away the tears that had welled up in his eyes at the nightmare that clung to him of the last time he had seen his mother. Six years ago. That was how long it had been since that day, that dreaded day where he, his sister, and his mother had been unfortunate to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.

This had been before his father had married the woman who would become Lady Stadtfeld and Naoto had often wondered if his father would have married that harlot had their mother survived. Just as he did now, he always pushed that thought away; there was no point in thinking about 'what ifs'. It never helped matters, no matter how much he wished that things had been different.

Rubbing the back of his neck, Naoto crawled out of his makeshift bed and limped toward the small mini-fridge in the corner, wincing as he put pressure on his injured leg. Given to him by the owner of the restaurant he was living under, who was a sympathizer to the resistances fighting against Britannia named Michi Tagawa, the mini-fridge was stocked with simple foods like bread and cheese and beverages like bottled water.

Three months. That was how long it had been since Naoto had been brought there, since the day _he_ had saved his life; Lone Wolf, the most mysterious resistance fighter that anyone has ever come across. He always kept a hood over his face and never affiliated with anyone; he would help other resistances, usually, but he never officially joined them. That was why he was called Lone Wolf; he held no allegiance to anything but his own goal.

At least, that was how everyone saw him.

When the mysterious Lone Wolf had saved his life, and had spent the next week working on making sure he didn't sleep into a coma or make his injury worse, Naoto had learned that the Lone Wolf was far more complicated than anyone had originally thought.

He was also the only one who had discovered the Lone Wolf's true identity.

It had been a shock, to say the least, and yet it made some sense. If anyone were to find out the identity of Lone Wolf, if anyone were to find out that he had actually _survived_ when the rest of his family had not, then his life would be in jeopardy, especially if the news reached the wrong ears. If _Britannia_ found out that _he_ was alive then they would want to find him and kill him because of the symbol that he would represent for the Japanese people.

A symbol of hope.

Simply because of the last name that he had.

Naoto had reassured the Lone Wolf that he wouldn't tell anyone to which he had expressed his gratitude before telling Naoto that he would need to remain put for a while.

 _"You're being hunted since you managed to escape Britannia's clutches. And, with your leg as it is, you won't be able to run very far."_

Naoto had argued, insisting that he had a resistance he needed to return to, that he couldn't just abandon them. And, even though he hadn't said it out loud, he also knew that he had to return for his little sister; he knew that Kallen would be devastated if he didn't return and he couldn't put her through that.

Lone Wolf insisted that Naoto needed to rehabilitate his leg to be able to walk again and, according to Tagawa who had been a doctor when she was younger, he'd have to get used to having to move around with a limp because of how badly damaged his leg was before he could do anything.

Reluctantly, Naoto agreed before asking just how long it would take to be able to walk again and resigned himself to at least three months of rehabilitation and regaining his strength.

 _"Three months should also be enough time for Britannia to forget about searching for you. You do know that they got a good look at you, right?"_

Naoto snorted, nearing the mini-fridge, as Lone Wolf's words echoed in his head because he knew the resistance fighter was right. Since Britannia knew what he looked like, they would keep searching for him for a while, especially since they also figured out that he was the leader of his resistance and he had killed the commanding officer of the unit that had attacked him and his friends out of self-defense, and Naoto was not going to lead them back to his friends and little sister.

He understood that he had to stay away for the time being, no matter how much it hurt knowing that his little sister wouldn't know what had happened to him.

He also knew that it was likely that his sister was going to be pissed at both him and Lone Wolf for keeping his survival a secret for three months but it couldn't be helped. He would do anything to protect his little sister, even if it meant staying away from her while Britannia was likely engaging in a manhunt for him.

Especially since he had the blood of a high-ranking Britannian soldier on his hands.

It had been in self-defense but it wasn't as if Britannia would care.

They never did.

Even if Naoto looked Britannian, everyone knew that he was the disgraced, disowned son of Lord Johnathon Stadtfeld who chose his Japanese heritage over his Britannian one. Thus, they would care even less that he had killed a soldier in self-defense; to them, he was a filthy half-blood who chose to be an Eleven rather than the supposedly 'better option' of being a Britannian.

 _Tch, I've never been a Britannian, not since the invasion_ _and definitely_ _not since I lost my mother,_ Naoto thought.

He knelt by the mini-fridge, wincing as he did so. His leg was still bothering him, even though it had been three months, but Naoto had this feeling that he was going to have to deal with these little pains for the rest of his life. It was not as if "Elevens" could get decent medical treatment since they didn't make nearly enough money to pay the bills and most Britannians didn't care about "Elevens" anyway.

 _Though we're not Elevens, we're Japanese,_ Naoto thought as he searched through the fridge and pulled out the ingredients to make himself a sandwich. He then limped over to the little table near the small window in the basement and sat down to make it.

It was only about five in the afternoon and Naoto, chewing on a bite of his sandwich, smiled softly to himself. _To think, I thought myself too old for naps. I certainly don't mind them now,_ he thought. Naps, even if they were not planned, certainly helped him to relax and rest his leg, especially when he had to work on strengthening it and walking on it, which made it tired and aching by the time he was done. At least he could walk around for a lot longer than he could three months ago.

Still, it had been three months and Naoto had been, for the past few days, coming up with plans to rejoin with his resistance as well as explain why he'd been missing for the past three months. His leg was never going to be fully healed but Naoto could walk around with a perpetual dull ache in his leg so that was good. Not great but good.

 _Hmm, Lone Wolf did say that it was likely that Britannia will have forgotten about me by now so that'll work to my advantage. I'll have to go slowly and rest a lot to make sure I don't make my leg worse, a cane will probably help. Maybe I can as_ _k Tagawa-_ sama _for one when I leave,_ Naoto thought as he finished his sandwich. Considering Tagawa walked with a cane herself, she might have extras to give to Naoto.

It was worth a shot anyway.

"Naoto- _kun_?" a voice called quietly and Naoto— _think of the Devil—_ turned around as Michi Tagawa made her way down the stairs into the basement, her cane tapping the steps, her kind eyes fixed on him while her gray hair hung straight to her shoulders, one hand resting behind her back.

"Yes, Tagawa- _sama_?" Naoto asked, standing up and limping over to join Tagawa.

Tagawa glanced at him with a sympathy and sadness in her eyes. She always gave him that look; she didn't pity him, for which he was grateful, and he understood why she sympathized with him. Even if her weak legs was due to age and not an injury, she still understood what it was like to walk around with a limp everywhere.

"It's been three months since that nice young man brought you here," she said. "Are you leaving soon?"

"Likely so," Naoto said. "I thank you for everything you've done for me, Tagawa- _sama_ , but I need to get back to my friends and to my sister. I've been gone for too long, even if it was to keep them safe."

Tagawa smiled gently at him. "Once you tell them that, I doubt they will be too angry with you. Frustrated, maybe, but not angry," she said.

"Except Tamaki but then it doesn't take much to get him angry," Naoto mused. He liked Tamaki, he really did, but Tamaki had probably one of the shortest tempers he'd ever seen, and he grew up with Kallen when she was in her bratty, temper-tantrum-every-five-seconds stage.

Tagawa chuckled. "Cherish your friends and your family, Naoto- _kun_ , especially in this day and age," she said.

Naoto's eyes softened. "I do," he said. "By the way, do you think I can have a cane? It'd make it easier for me to walk."

"I had a feeling you'd ask for one. That's why I came down here actually," Tagawa said and held out what was in the hand behind her back. It was a sturdy-looking polished wooden cane. "It belonged to my husband but it's still very durable and I have no doubt it'll work for you. Go ahead and take it. I think he would have wanted you to have it since you need it."

Touched that she was giving away something that belonged to her late husband, Naoto took the cane. " _Arigato_ _u_ _goz_ _ai_ _mas_ _u_ _,_ " he said quietly.

Tagawa smiled at him. " _Douitashimashite_ ," she said.

 **. . .**

 _The blood. So much blood stained the ground. Falling, falling, drip, drip, drip. Darkness filled the room. There was no moon. There were no stars. At least, none that he could see; the sky was overcast and rain fell down in a heavy downpour, obscuring even the light from the lanterns that hung outside._

 _Drip. Drip. Blood. So much blood. It was everywhere. It stained everything. Its horrible coppery stench filling his nostrils, filling his sight. He couldn't escape it. He couldn't breathe. It was dark. Dark. Dark. Dark. Suffocating darkness. It had him in a choke-hold, the blood permeating the entire area, filling everything, its stench so strong, strong, strong…_

"Hey, you stupid monkey! Get your head out of the clouds!" A shout sounded, breaking Shintaro Ihara out of the doze he had unintentionally fallen into. Gasping and starting, he just barely stop himself from jumping out of his seat in the mess hall. He blinked and gazed around, a faint flush of embarrassment on his cheeks as he heard some of the older soldiers snickering in cruel amusement and he looked down.

Falling asleep in the mess hall of all places? Shintaro had to resist the urge to groan and smack his head against the table in front of him. It hadn't been his fault that he had been unable to get to sleep the night before, that was due to the very nightmare that was bothering him now, but he knew enough not to say anything about it. The Britannians that he worked with wouldn't give a damn if he was being truly honest with himself; they would never resist the opportunity to sneer at and insult him and Shintaro had just given them perfect ammo to use against him.

He sighed, resting his chin on the palm of his hand and ignoring the sympathetic glances his fellow Honorary Britannians were giving him. They knew that he hadn't gotten much sleep the night before because he had woken them all up more than once with his screaming. At least they weren't cruel and they didn't get angry with him; they had just asked him if everything was all right and, when he refused to talk about anything, they left him alone.

According to his bunk mate, Kazuhiro, Shintaro wasn't the only one who had nightmares.

It was normal, especially for those who were Shintaro's age who'd been unfortunate enough to experience the invasion.

Shintaro shivered at the memory of the invasion and shoved it out of his mind, mostly because of how the invasion ended and because of the nightmare that still clung to his mind like a cobweb. He refocused his attention on the food in front of him, even if he wasn't very hungry and the unappetizing food made him even less hungry. He knew he had to eat, especially since they were likely going to be doing their evening drills soon.

 _Why am I here again?_

Shintaro had been thinking about that question off and on since he applied to be an Honorary Britannian and joined the military when he was sixteen. He knew that one reason was because he wanted to protect those who couldn't protect themselves, so that what happened during the invasion wouldn't happen again, even if it meant fighting against his own countryman.

He was seen as a traitor because of that but he couldn't understand why his own people couldn't seem to understand that he just wanted to protect people and that was what the military was supposed to do. That was what he had always been taught about the military and he believed that it didn't matter from where the military came, they all had the same goal.

He knew that Britannia has done many questionable things in the past and he wasn't naive enough into thinking that Numbers were being treated the same as Britannians but he knew that they still had their lives. That was something that they should cherish, that they shouldn't throw away over some lost cause, like those terrorists who insisted on fighting back against Britannia.

Shintaro knew that fighting to free Area 11 from Britannia's control was a lost cause. He was, according to Kazuhiro, a pessimist, but he strongly believed that he was right. The terrorism terrorists were using to free Area 11 was stupid; it would only cause much needless bloodshed. Even freedom fighters, whom Shintaro did see as separate from terrorists, were fighting for a losing cause.

Britannia was just too strong. Nothing those freedom fighters and terrorists did would change anything, not against the might of an empire that controlled one third of the entire world, so why should they give their lives for a cause that would never succeed? Why were they so willing to give their lives for a cause when fighting to protect the innocent was a much worthier cause?

He didn't have the answers to any of those questions and he likely never would.

Another reason that Shintaro had joined the military, and was fighting for Britannia, was because he knew that not all of Britannia was bad as those terrorists and freedom fighters seemed to think. He had met a few Britannians who weren't bad, two of whom had become his closest friends seven years earlier.

He smiled a little as he forced himself to eat some of the unappetizing food in front of him and his thoughts drifted to Prince Lelouch vi Britannia and Princess Nunnally vi Britannia. The prince and princess who had come to live at the Kururugi Shrine; the prince and princess that Shintaro had become fast friends with—he had become friends with the prince a lot sooner than Suzaku had—and who proved that Britannians weren't all bad.

Even if Lelouch was a bit rough around the edges at first, and he and Suzaku had disliked each other at first glance, he had warmed up to both Suzaku and Shintaro during the almost year that he and his little sister had been staying with Suzaku's family. By the time the invasion rolled around, the three of them had become nearly inseparable friends.

 _I haven't thought about either of them in a while,_ Shintaro thought, spooning some more slop into his mouth and chewing, though he wasn't really tasting what he was eating. He was too lost in his thoughts. _I wonder how they're doing._

He hoped that Suzaku and Lelouch were all right, Suzaku especially, and Nunnally of course. The brown-haired princess was a sweetheart and it was thanks to her that Shintaro and Suzaku got to see a side of Lelouch very few people got to see.

As he thought about those two, his thoughts drifted to that nightmare that he had the night before and he shivered again, especially when his thoughts drifted to Suzaku. Guilt gnawed at him but Shintaro pushed it away, focusing on the now; nothing could change the past and Shintaro could only hope that his best friend, with whom he had been raised, never learned of what happened, of what his nightmare was alluding to.

No, he would keep that to himself, just as he had from almost everyone for the past seven years. Only a few knew the truth and they hated him for it, he knew, but no one else did.

Shintaro was planning on keeping it that way.

So he focused on the happier times that he had with Suzaku, Lelouch, and Nunnally.

 _I would like to see them again,_ he thought. _At the very least, I'd like to confirm that Suzaku's safe and Lelouch and Nunnally found the Ashfords._

"Yo, Earth to Shin, you in there?" Kazuhiro's voice broke Shintaro out of his thoughts as did the hand waving in front of his face.

"Calm down with the waving, Kazu. You're gonna poke my eye out," Shintaro said with a light chuckle as he swatted the hand away.

"Well, you were spacing out again," Kazuhiro said with a shrug. "You've got a bad habit of doing that. What're you even thinking about?"

"Nothing important," Shintaro said, avoiding his eyes and looking around the Mess Hall, noticing that there weren't that many people left. "Are the drills starting soon?"

"Yeah, we've gotta head out to the field now," Kazuhiro said and stood up. "C'mon, Mr. Spaces Out All The Time."

Shintaro rolled his eyes and stood up, forcing a grin onto his face. "I wouldn't be talking 'bout spacing out, Mr. Can't Keep His Eyes Off Natalie. What're you doing? Undressing her with your eyes?" He bolted after he said that, laughing and thankful that it was only Honorary Britannians left in that area of the base; everyone else was already at their designated spots on the field.

"Why you…? Get back here, you little bastard," Kazuhiro shouted and ran after him.

Shintaro chuckled as they neared the exit leading out of the base and he slowed down to a walk. That sudden bout of laughter had helped him to push aside the memory and he was thankful for that. He didn't want to relive that incident and teasing Kazuhiro and laughing helped.

Some people say that laughter was the best sort of medicine.

Shintaro found that it was also true that laughter was the best way of getting one's mind off the bad things that they were thinking about.

 **. . .**

 _Gunfire. Screams of pain. A bloodbath. That was what it was. Blood stained the walls, the carpet, the furniture, the bodies that lay in crimson pools on the ground. Soldiers stood around the bodies, not looking the slightest bit affected by the amount of blood around them. Britannians._

 _The bodies on the ground, each bleeding from vicious bullet wounds to their torsos, their heads, their necks. All of them he recognized because all of them he had seen fall; every last one of them, he saw fall at the hands of Britannia. He had heard the crack of the gun each time it was fired; he had seen the bullet sink into the bodies of each and every fallen person; he could still smell the coppery stench of blood permeating the area. He couldn't get it out of his mind; nothing could get the scene out of his mind, nothing. It was imprinted there, never to be removed, to forever haunt him…_

Suzaku Kururugi yanked himself out of the nap he had been taking and the result was him tumbling off the little cot that he was calling a bed. He winced when he landed on the ground and pushed himself to his knees, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes and looking around.

Sunlight streamed in through the broken window and Suzaku, getting to his feet, noticed that the sun was hovering above the horizon. "Didn't realize I had taken that long of a nap," he mused and yawned. "This probably means I'm not going to get much sleep tonight."

It wasn't uncommon. Suzaku had been suffering from nightmares of the day the invasion of Japan began and it always intruded upon his sleep. He never could get a full, restful sleep because of them; sometimes, he could get six hours of sleep but he couldn't seem to stay asleep for much longer than that. It got to the point where he'd trained his body to function on anywhere from one hour to six hours of sleep a night.

The day the invasion began was something that Suzaku would never forget. He couldn't. It was the day he had lost everyone, and he had seen them all fall, killed by Britannia. He had seen those Britannian soldiers pull the trigger, watched as his beloved cousin Kaguya, Kaguya's parents, and his own parents fell to the hailstorm of bullets.

If it hadn't been for Tohdoh, he probably would have given away his position and gotten killed himself.

And would have gotten Lelouch and Nunnally killed as well.

Suzaku didn't blame Lelouch and Nunnally for what Britannia did and that was only for two reasons. One reason was that Nunnally was far too much of a sweetheart to have anything to do with what Britannia did. The second reason was that Suzaku had seen the look on Lelouch's face whenever Britannia or anything relating to the Emperor, usually the latter, was simply _mentioned,_ even if it was in _passing._

The look of complete and utter _hatred._

Lelouch _hated_ Britannia, though Suzaku also knew that his hatred was more focused on the Emperor himself than on anyone else.

There was no way that Lelouch could fake that kind of emotion. It was so strong, especially whenever the Emperor was mentioned, that it always broke through the apathetic mask that Lelouch usually wore. And if an emotion could break through Lelouch's mask without him noticing, since he was practically hyper-aware of everything, then it had to be true.

Since Lelouch hated his birth country and his father, Suzaku knew that he couldn't have been behind what happened to his father and his family.

There was also a third reason too. Lelouch had admitted to Suzaku, Shintaro, and Nunnally, while they were trekking across the war-torn Japan trying to find safety, that Japan had become more of a home to him than Pendragon could ever be, and that he saw the Kururugi family as more his family than the Emperor could ever be. Suzaku would have to admit he was touched by that, not just because this was _Lelouch_ and Lelouch rarely ever let anyone know what he was truly feeling, but also because it meant that he wasn't as alone as he thought he was after losing his family.

Seven years have gone by and Suzaku had been so busy that he hadn't really had the chance to see whether his two best friends and Nunnally had gotten to safety. He knew that it was likely, since Shintaro had stayed with Suzaku until they had reached the Kururugi safe house and his family's own safe house was only about a mile away, and Lelouch and Nunnally were Britannian. He hoped that meant that they wouldn't be harmed, especially once they were in the heart of Tokyo, the first city to fall to Britannia's invading forces.

Shaking his head and pushing those thoughts out of his mind, Suzaku focused on things that were going on now, especially things concerning the terrorist movements within the Shinjuku Ghetto or lack thereof. There was only one resistance group in the Shinjuku Ghetto and they had gone to ground when their leader disappeared three months earlier.

Suzaku was honestly surprised that he hadn't moved on to another ghetto, and another terrorist organization, in the past three months. He supposed that there was just something about Naoto Kozuki that kept him around. There was also the fact that Naoto reminded him of someone he knew, of someone whom he never thought he'd ever become best friends with.

Naoto Kozuki actually reminded him, a little, of Lelouch.

He honestly had no clue why though and he wondered if he was just thinking that because he missed them. He missed Lelouch and Nunnally, just as he missed Shintaro; they had been through so much together during the invasion and, while Suzaku understood the reasoning behind their separation, he hadn't wanted to leave them.

Especially not so soon after losing his entire family.

He decided that he would stick around for a little longer. He wasn't affiliated with Naoto's Resistance but he didn't mind helping them out whenever they needed it; they weren't like the Blood of the Samurai.

Suzaku's lips twisted into a frown. No matter how much he hated Britannia, he still could never condone the deaths of innocents, Britannian or otherwise. The Blood of the Samurai hadn't cared about any innocents that were caught in the crossfire of their attacks; they never actively sought out civilians, no, but any civilian that got in their way was killed, no matter if they were Britannian or Japanese.

That was why Suzaku refused to work with them ever again.

Maybe that was why he remained nearby to help Naoto's Resistance. Naoto shared the same sentiment he had about the innocents and about the need to lessen civilian causalities whenever and wherever they could.

A knock sounded on his door and Suzaku, grabbing his black trenchcoat and throwing it on, lowered the hood over his eyes and walked over to the door. He opened it a crack and inclined his head once before stepping aside. "Come in," he said.

The door opened further as a bushy-black-haired young man made his way into the room, a red headband wrapped around his head. He closed the door quietly behind him and stood across from Suzaku, fidgeting nervously.

"We need your help," he said finally.

"With what?" Suzaku asked.

"Do you remember, three months ago, when Naoto said that he believed Clovis was planning something and that he had a spy trying to figure out what?"

"Yes."

"Well, the spy just reported in. We know what Clovis is creating and we need to get it out of Britannia's hands before they can unleash it," the bushy-black-haired young man said.

"And you want my help to retrieve this 'item', whatever it is, Ohgi?"

"We've got a plan, of sorts," the man, Ohgi, said. "We just need you as backup in case things go south. We...don't want a repeat of what happened three months ago."

"That hadn't been Naoto's fault anymore than it had been yours, Ohgi. You both were just unfortunate enough to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. It happens, more often than you would think," Suzaku said. "Believe me, I've seen it happen many times in the past couple of years." And he had; since he had gone off on his own, he had been unfortunate enough to witness that happening a lot.

Ohgi sighed. "I know," he said.

"But you think that if I'm there to help you then it'll only help." It wasn't a question.

Ohgi answered anyway with a slight nod. "Besides, we both know that you're an ace knightmare pilot so you could help if we could get you into a knightmare," he said.

The only reason they knew that Suzaku was an ace knightmare pilot was because, during the incident three months ago, Suzaku had used a stolen Glasgow to fight off the Britannian knightmares that had been attacking Naoto's team; Ohgi, who'd been the only survivor—that wasn't in hiding—had been amazed.

Even Naoto, when he regained consciousness, had admitted that Suzaku was one hell of a pilot.

"Yeah, like Kallen will let me anywhere near her precious Glasgow," Suzaku said with an amused smile.

"True," Ohgi said with a chuckle. "But, still, will you help us?"

"First off, do you know, exactly, what this item is?"

"The spy...he says that it's poison gas," Ohgi said softly.

Suzaku's jaw clenched. Poison gas. _Why am I not surprised Britannia would make something like this?_ He thought. "When and where?" he said. He was not about to let poison gas remain in Britannia's hands if he could help it, not when it could lead to an all-out massacre.

"Monday afternoon. You'll be our backup in the old subway tunnel at the rendezvous. If we are in need of help then we'll call; if not then you'll just meet our getaway driver there. Hopefully, the plan will go off without a hitch though," Ohgi said.

Suzaku inclined his head and smiled again. "You've really come a long way as a leader, Ohgi," he said honestly. "You're not nearly as nervous as you were three months ago."

"T...Thank you," Ohgi said and sighed. "I don't see why you won't lead us though."

Suzaku chuckled. "I'm more of a fighter than a leader, Ohgi," he said. "And, besides, I prefer working on my own."

"Will you always work on your own?"

Suzaku hummed. "Maybe. I don't really know," he said with a shrug. He hadn't really thought about joining anyone but he supposed that anything was possible. "I'll see you Monday afternoon. You know how to contact me."

Ohgi nodded. "I will see you then," he said and turned around, walking toward the door. He paused and then added, "And thank you, Lone Wolf," before he disappeared out the door.

 **. . .**

 _Next Time: Skirmish in the Shinjuku Ghetto_

 **. . .**

 **A/n what do you think?**

 **Blaze: and there you have it! The first chapter of my newest CG fic! I really hope you enjoy it. Here are some notes...**

 **Blaze: excuse me for a moment (walks out of the computer room) _Bakura! Suzaku! Kallen! Lelouch! Get in here! You need to do the notes!_ (Walks back into computer room)**

 **Bakura: (walks into computer room) Ra, Blaze, did you have to yell?**

 **Suzaku: (walks into computer room) I was heading this way anyway**

 **Kallen: (walks into computer room) so was I**

 **Lelouch: (walks into computer room) let's make this quick. I have an Emperor to kill again**

 **Suzaku: as usual, you sadistic bastard**

 **Lelouch: once again, when it comes to the Emperor, I don't deny it. Anyway, Blaze would like to say that her first note is that, for this story, there are going to be OCs but, unlike in _Rise of the Black King,_ most of these OCs are side characters who will, hopefully, not be flat characters; however, there will be four major OC characters, two are introduced in this chapter, the third will be introduced in chapter two, and the fourth will be introduced in chapter four.**

 **Suzaku: Blaze's second note is this story has a complicated plot so if things don't make sense right now, more likely than not, it will make sense by the end (or the end of the sequel).**

 **Kallen: Blaze's third note is about the pairings. The main pairing is Lelouch and me with Suzaku likely being paired with an original character (she loves the Suza/Euphie pairing to death but she has stated that it just won't work for this story) but there are other pairings but she won't reveal them because it will constitute spoilers.**

 **Bakura: Blaze's fourth note is that the events of _Akito the Exiled_ will be touched upon in this story but they will occur far earlier than in canon and, thus, Akito Hyuga, Shin Hyuga Shing, Leila Malcal, and other characters that are introduced in _Akito the Exiled_ will be in this story, and play a pretty large role toward the end and in the sequel.**

 **Lelouch: (studies the list of notes to see if they got everything) hmm, I feel I'm missing something (keeps scanning the list) ah, here it is: Blaze's fifth note is this story expands upon just what (in her eyes and in the eyes of this story) the World of C truly is in regards to alternate dimensions and the powers of Code Bearers. Basically, this story explores the World of C, Geass, and Codes far more thoroughly (and likely less canonically since she doubts this thorough exploration is canon and she doesn't pretend it will be).**

 **Suzaku: final note, I know that people might not be happy with the usage of Japanese but here's her explanation. Britannia has taken away everything from the Japanese people. Is it really a big leap that they would take away their language and make it so that the language is banned and the Japanese don't speak it out of fear of retaliation? That is the way it's going to be in this story so there will be use of Japanese words but only little ones, like expressions of gratitude and that kind of thing, and honorifics throughout this story. Also, the Japanese may not be correct but I did my best (and actually did some research to try to ensure that I use the appropriate words and honorifics).**

 **Blaze: welp, that was a long ass author's note. I think my muses got everything down but if there's something I missed then I can always mention it in a later chapter. I hope you guys enjoyed the first chapter of my brand-new _Code Geass_ fic and reviews, as always, are much appreciated.**


	2. Skirmish in the Shinjuku Ghetto

**Okay, I lied. The major OC that I said would make an appearance in chapter 4 will actually make an appearance in this chapter. Just thought I'd let you know.**

 **Anyway, well, seven people reviewed the first chapter. That's pretty cool. So thank you to _Shadow-Shinobi666, incorruptable, demedici, Dadycoool, LittleRedWritingHood70, SunsetDawn420,_ and _DarthMaine_ for reviewing the last chapter. You guys are awesome.**

 **Here is the second chapter. I hope that you enjoy it and reviews, as always, are much appreciated.**

 **2**

 **Skirmish in the Shinjuku Ghetto**

Kallen peered out of the window of the truck, lowering her cap over her eyes just in case some of the Britannians glanced in her direction. She didn't think that they would; they were too busy shouting out orders to their subordinates and guiding the gas capsule toward the truck. Nagata was sitting nervously in the driver's seat, trying not to draw attention to them because if they found out that she and Nagata were not the original drivers of the truck then their plan would go up in flames.

And Kallen doubted that the Lone Wolf would be able to get them out of the situation with how far away he was.

Kallen didn't know what to really think about the Lone Wolf. She didn't know his true identity, she really didn't know much about him to be honest, and the only thing that she knew was that he was an extremely talented knightmare pilot. He also worked on his own and, while he has helped various resistances, according to him, over the past two years, he never joined any of them.

Kallen wasn't sure what she thought about that. She supposed that not everyone could work with other people, even though Lone Wolf was a lot friendlier than his chosen name suggested he was. He always treated them respectfully, even if he was a bit subdued and closed off.

The last time he had worked with the Kozuki Resistance had been three months earlier when he'd helped Ohgi get away from the Britannians that had attacked him and Naoto's group. While Kallen was a bit upset that he was unable to find Naoto, she was grateful that he had, at least, managed to save the life of one of her friends.

"Kallen?" Nagata whispered.

Kallen, pulling herself from her thoughts, turned to Nagata. "Yeah?" she whispered back.

"You okay?"

"Yeah, just a little nervous." While she was determined to complete the plan and felt confident that she could pull it off, she did have the Glasgow if things went south, she couldn't help the little twinges of her nerves. Even after working with her brother's resistance for the past several months, she still got a little nervous during these kind of missions.

The mission was a rather nerve-wracking one anyway.

"Yeah, same here. But...the plan seems like it'll work. We just gotta get to the rendezvous point," Nagata whispered.

"I know," Kallen murmured back. The truck shuddered as the gas capsule was loaded into the back of it and Kallen briefly glanced over her shoulder through the slight crack in the door of the cab. The sliding doors on the side of the truck glided shut and she let out the breath that she hadn't realized she had been holding. She'd been afraid that they would spot the Glasgow, where it was hidden at the back of the truck, but they didn't.

 _Okay. Step one's done. Now we just gotta get past the checkpoint, try to avoid attracting the Britannians attention for as long as possible and get to the rendezvous point._ She knew that it wasn't likely that they would escape notice forever; she was strongly hoping that they would be able to get to the rendezvous point before they were noticed though.

"Head out," one of the Britannian soldiers said.

"Yes, sir," Nagata said, managing to keep his voice level as he eased the truck away from the loading bay and headed for the gates. This was the most nerve-wracking part of the entire plan; everything hinged on them getting past the gates without making the Britannians suspicious.

That meant that they would have to focus on looking as if they belonged there and that they were the original drivers of the truck, and not some imposters. Even if no one knew what the drivers actually looked like, and likely didn't really care as long as they did their job, they still had to look the part.

They drove to the gates in silence. The truck rumbling over the uneven road as it neared the gates and two Britannian soldiers, their rifles held in their hands, came forward. "Halt, we will need to confirm the package is contained," the first soldier said.

"Yes, sir," Nagata said and the soldier moved to the side of the truck and opened it. There was a moment of silence as a slim beam of light shone through the crack in the cab door before the soldier stepped to the side and nodded.

"You're clear. Let them through," he said, waving a hand toward the other soldier who saluted and singled to the gate operator. The gate swung open and Nagata guided the truck past the gates and turned onto the main street, driving at the speed limit as he made his way deeper into the settlement. For the time being, he would make it look like they were heading for where they were told to go but, once they were out of range, they would change course.

Kallen sighed with relief. _Okay, we're past the gates. We're doing good so far. We can do this,_ she thought in determination and gazed out the window briefly, her thoughts going to her elder brother and she smiled sadly.

 _Naoto, would you be proud of me? Or would you scold me for participating in such a reckless plan?_

Resisting the urge to chuckle, since she had a feeling it would likely be a mixture of the two, Kallen turned her gaze to the street in front of her. Nagata switched lanes, bypassing slower moving cars, nervously glancing a few times into the side mirror to see if they were being followed. So far, they were in the clear.

Their radio crackled to life and Tamaki's voice echoed in the cab. " _Hey, ya guys got it?_ " he asked.

" _Didn't we agree not to talk on the radio until they reached the ghetto?_ " Ohgi's voice asked dryly.

" _Ah, I'm sure we're fine,_ " Tamaki said.

" _Don't jinx us,_ " Sugiyama said dryly. " _We're in position just in case._ "

" _And Lone Wolf?_ " Tamaki asked curiously.

There was another crackle. " _I'm here,_ " Lone Wolf's calm voice said. " _Best be careful. I'm monitoring you as best as I can. So far, there isn't any activity at the lab._ "

" _How the hell can you see them? Aren't you in the ghetto?_ " Tamaki said surprised.

" _I'm on Tokyo Tower right now and I know some people,_ " Lone Wolf said simply and then added sharply, " _Keep alert. There's some activity in the lab. It looks rushed. I'll be heading to my rendezvous point right now. Lone Wolf out._ "

Kallen turned to Nagata. "If there's some rushed activity at the lab then they might've found out that we've taken the truck a lot sooner than we thought they would. We're gonna have to go off course earlier than planned," she said.

"I know," Nagata said and switched lanes, pressing on the gas to go faster. "Instead of taking the long way, like we were planning, I'll hitch a ride on the highway. That should get us to the ghetto quicker."

Kallen gripped the sides of her seat as the car shot forward, weaving around the other cars. Nagata ignored the sound of car horns from every car that they drove rapidly past. When they got to the on ramp that would take them to the highway, Nagata went over the curb in his haste to get to the ramp, bypassing a car that was moving slower in front of them. They drove up the ramp, gradually gaining speed as they merged onto the highway and sped rapidly toward the exit that would take them to the Shinjuku Ghetto.

"Wait, didn't the news say that there was construction on that exit?" Nagata asked suddenly.

"No. The exit right before the exit to the ghetto is what's closed," Kallen said, remembering seeing that on the news that morning before she'd headed off to meet with her brother's resistance. That exit would have still taken them to the ghetto if it was open though but, since it wasn't, they would have to rely on the regular exit.

"Okay," Nagata said and switched lanes again. "Are they behind us yet?"

Kallen glanced in the rear-view mirror and gritted her teeth when she saw that they were being pursued. There were trucks and military transports chasing after them and a voice stated over the loudspeaker, " _Everyone, pull over. This is a military matter. If you do not comply, you will be fired upon_."

Nagata gritted his teeth as the others on the highway were quick to pull over to the side of the highway. "That answers that question. They sure were quick to organize a pursuit. We have to keep going though," he said.

"I know," Kallen said. "We need to get to the rendezvous point. I'll go out in the Glasgow when I have to but, for now, I want to keep that trump card a secret for a little while longer."

"Agreed," Nagata said. "Besides, Naoto would probably come back just to kill me if I got ya killed."

Kallen smiled sadly because she knew that Nagata was right. "We can do this," she said with confidence.

"Agreed," Nagata said with a nod and slammed his foot on the gas, speeding rapidly forward down the empty highway, weaving rapidly just in case the Britannians started firing at them. "We're still a good fifteen minutes from the exit though. Let's hope that they don't start shooting 'cause we make a pretty large target."

"I know that," Kallen said with a huff but, inwardly, she knew that Nagata was starting to show his nerves, the same nervous feeling that she was feeling herself.

 **. . .**

Lelouch walked away from the room, happy with his winnings, while Rivalz jogged after him, grinning ear to ear, looking as amazed as he had when Lelouch had managed to win the chess match in under nine minutes. Lelouch smiled a little at Rivalz's energetic rambling about the match as the two of them walked into the lobby of the hotel and headed for the main doors.

It was Monday and Lelouch, to no surprise, had skipped one of his classes to go gambling. It was just P.E. and Lelouch knew that he would have enough time to get back to school before his next class began. It was a good ten minute drive and they still had about fifteen minutes before their next class would begin.

"I can't believe you won as much as you had," Rivalz was exclaiming. "The great thing I love about playing against nobles is that they always end up paying up no matter what or how much. Their pride took a pretty sore beating though. Less than nine minutes when you only had twenty seconds per move? That's a new record."

"So you've said, three times already, Rivalz," Lelouch said in amusement as they made their way out of the hotel.

"Oh, sorry," Rivalz said with a sheepish smile.

Lelouch waved a hand dismissively.

"So,"—Rivalz turned so that he was walking backward across the parking lot to where he had parked his motorcycle, his hands folded behind his head—"Why did you start your move with the king anyway?"

Lelouch shrugged. "If a leader doesn't lead, how does he expect his subordinates to follow?" he said.

"Wow, that's deep. Do you want to be a CEO or something?" Rivalz asked curiously.

"No, not really. It's just a philosophy that I was taught when I was young." Lelouch hadn't really thought about what he wanted to be after he graduated high school. While he usually had things planned out ahead of time, he hadn't really thought about much beyond his own plans and taking care of Nunnally. Frankly, the only reason he was even going to high school was because Reuben Ashford insisted and Lelouch did owe the man for granting him and Nunnally a roof over their heads and food in their stomachs when they'd arrived on his doorstep in the waning days of the invasion. Besides, he saw no point in thinking about work or college after high school because he, technically speaking, didn't actually exist, not as Lelouch Lamperouge anyway, and he couldn't draw attention to himself if he wanted to keep Nunnally safe.

That was the main reason why he wasn't the top student of his year, even though he had a good chance of getting that position, even with his less than stellar P.E. grades, though those grades certainly helped keeping him below the radar. The top student was almost always spoken to personally by Prince Clovis during graduation as a reward for being the valedictorian of the graduating class.

And Lelouch knew that Clovis would recognize him in an instant if he saw him.

That was also the main reason why he avoided going near the Viceroy's Palace whenever he went into the heart of the settlement for his gambling matches. He supposed that he was being paranoid, Clovis rarely ever left the Viceroy's Palace as he was too busy with his parties and running the country, but he has always been rather paranoid.

Rivalz lowered his hands. "What do you plan on doing after you graduate anyway?" he asked.

Lelouch shrugged but didn't answer, his gaze landing momentarily on the television screen attached to the hotel on which an anchorwoman was talking about an attack on the edge of the Tokyo Settlement and the lives that had been lost.

" _And now we go live to Prince Clovis_ _la Britannia,_ _Viceroy of Area 11,_ " the anchorwoman said and the image flickered before it focused on Clovis, his blonde hair falling down to his shoulders and his blue eyes fixed on the camera.

" _People of Area 11, my heart grieves for the loss of those eight honorable Britannian soldiers as a result of this act of vicious terrorism,_ " Clovis began but Lelouch tuned out most of the speech as he began walking again toward the motorcycle.

"He just asked for a moment of silence. Are ya gonna do it?" Rivalz asked, falling into step beside him.

"No. It won't bring them back so it's pointless," Lelouch said.

"Yeah, it does seem pretty lame," Rivalz mused as he climbed into the motorcycle and Lelouch got into the sidecar, putting on the helmet and visor over his head and eyes. He pulled out the book that he had left in the sidecar and opened it to the page that he had been on as Rivalz started the motorcycle.

"So we've got about ten minutes to get to class," Rivalz added. "I'm gonna hit the highway. We'll be able to get there faster so we won't have to run to class, since you can't, y'know, run without passing out."

Lelouch threw him a withering glare at that but Rivalz just grinned cheekily back at him and pulled away from the hotel.

The traffic on the highway was running pretty smoothly and quickly. There weren't that many cars in front of them and very little traffic behind them so they were making good time, which was good since the portion of the highway they were on went around the ghettos before circling back into the settlement itself. The good news was that there was an exit only about a mile from Ashford Academy.

"The highway ain't as busy as I thought it would be," Rivalz commented as he weaved past a slower moving car.

"It's the middle of the day. Generally, everyone is either at work or at school," Lelouch said, not taking his eyes off his book.

"True," Rivalz said. "Wait, did we have a Student Council meeting today?"

"After school at four."

"Oh. Wonder what we're doing. I really hope we're not balancing the budget again. That always sucks."

"That is what we're doing," Lelouch said, turning the page but half-listening to Rivalz as he groaned. Balancing the budget was something that they had to do periodically because of Milly's rather outlandish decisions in regards to festivals, parties, club activities, and school-wide activities. Frankly, Lelouch was pretty sure the only reason why they weren't completely broke was because he was good at balancing the budget and reigning in Milly, most of the time. There were some times when Milly got one over him; she was probably the only one who could convince him to do something he didn't really want to do.

Though that was often through blackmail but that was another story.

His thoughts were suddenly thrown out of his head when they were rear-ended so sharply that Rivalz, with a yelp, was forced to yank the motorcycle out of the way to avoid anymore damage. The truck that had crashed into them did the same, veering off the highway and crashing past the cones of the closed off-ramp that they were just about to reach.

Pulling to a stop on the edge of the highway near the off ramp, Rivalz pulled off his helmet and gazed down as the truck careened into the opened door of the warehouse down below, a bewildered and faintly worried look in his eyes. "Was that our fault?" he asked as more people began to gather to look at the accident, talking about it with each other.

"Who taught those people how to drive?"

"They were lucky they didn't kill anyone."

"They really should have paid attention to the road."

Lelouch narrowed his eyes. _Tch, they obviously care little about the drivers, only about what they did. Typical Britannians,_ he thought as he climbed out of the sidecar and removed his helmet. _But I am not like that._

Tossing the helmet into the sidecar, Lelouch began making his way toward the off ramp.

"Where are you going, Lelouch?" Rivalz called.

"I'm going to see if they're all right," Lelouch called back and walked down the ramp and headed for the truck.

 **. . .**

Clovis la Britannia sighed as he was surrounded by the noblewomen that were attending the party, his thoughts on the orders he'd just given to General Bartley. Code-R had been stolen by terrorists that had been disguising themselves as drivers for the truck it had been loaded into for safe transport when the lab was attacked. The terrorists were on the highway and Bartley had already sent part of the regiment after them.

Clovis was sure that Bartley would be able to handle the matter.

The door slammed open suddenly and a shout of "Big Brother!" interrupted the three noblewoman who were talking to him and Clovis turned, sighing as he braced himself for the far to energetic blur of yellow and blue that crashed into him. "What are you doing here, Lana?" he asked.

Lana la Britannia, Clovis's seventeen-year-old little sister, grinned as she tilted her head back, her blue eyes fixed on him. "I just decided to pay you a visit and your guards said that you were here," she said with a shrug as she released him.

Lana had come to Area 11 on orders from their parents who wanted her to start learning about the political sphere and what it took to be a politician in both the royal family and the empire as a whole. She was a pretty quick learner, though she often spent most of her time hanging out in the kitchens learning how to cook or out in the gardens drawing. She wasn't a painter like Clovis; she preferred sketching with pencil and she was pretty good. She also wasn't nearly as social as Clovis, which was why he was surprised to find her there of all places.

"Oh is this your little sister, Your Highness? She is simply adorable," the noblewoman asked with a warm smile at Lana. "Though I'm not sure that someone as young as you should be here, Your Highness."

Lana looked at her and dismissed her with a flippant shrug. "I'm seventeen, Lady Meyer," she said.

That was another thing about Lana. Unlike Clovis, who tried to be social and get along with all of the nobility, Lana didn't really like most members of the nobility, saying that they were too stuffy and always treated her like she was a five-year-old.

"Really?" Meyer looked surprised. "You certainly don't look it."

Lana's lip twitched. She got that a lot, Clovis knew, because she was tiny for her age and still had the face that suggested she wasn't a day over thirteen. It irritated her but she knew enough of the manners drilled into her head by their mother to know not to showcase her irritation when dealing with the nobility. Clovis hoped that she would open up a bit more; she reminded him a little bit of Lelouch now that he thought about it.

He smiled sadly as he thought about his younger half-brother, and the reason why he'd taken up the post of Viceroy of Area 11. He truly believed that his little half-brother had survived the invasion and he had come to Area 11 to try to find him and Nunnally and protect them. No one else would, or could; Cornelia and Schneizel couldn't because of their duties, Euphemia couldn't because she had been too young at the time, and no one else cared enough to look.

So Clovis took it upon himself to do so.

And, so far, he'd been coming up empty-handed.

"You okay, Big Brother?" Lana asked curiously.

"I'm fine, Lana. Just thinking." Clovis pulled himself from his thoughts but, before he could say anything else to his little sister, General Bartley came bolting into the room and hurried to his side.

"Your Highness!" Bartley said.

Clovis gave him a look. "What is so important that you would barge in here like this, General?" he asked.

Bartley swallowed and leaned forward to whisper, "The terrorists are on the verge of escaping. They seem to be heading toward Shinjuku but I can't be sure, Your Highness. They're staying ahead of us though," he whispered.

"What?!" Clovis scowled and turned to glare at Bartley. "I told you to handle this matter."

"I know, Your Highness, forgive me," Bartley said, wilting under Clovis's glare.

"Send the Purist Faction after them. Recover what they took at all costs," Clovis said firmly.

"Yes, Your Highness," Bartley said, saluting and bolting out of the ballroom.

"What was that about?" Lana asked.

"Nothing to worry about, Lana," Clovis reassured her, not wanting to worry her. Hopefully, Bartley would be able to handle the matter himself and Clovis wouldn't need to intervene.

 **. . .**

"How are things going?" Suzaku asked as he rested his back against the wall, one leg bent and the other stretched out while he had an arm wrapped around his bent knee. He was in the area of the old subway tunnel in which was an old station, which was where he was supposed to meet up with Nagata and Kallen if things went according to plan.

" _Things kinda just went south,_ " Ohgi admitted. " _Kallen and Nagata are heading for the Shinjuku Ghetto but they're being pursued by knightmares. Kallen was forced to use the Glasgow to distract the Britannians but I don't know for how long Kallen will be able to keep them distracted. We're doing what we can to distract them as well._ "

"Will Nagata be able to make it to the rendezvous?" Suzaku asked.

" _I'm not sure. Let me ask._ " The radio went silent as Ohgi switched frequencies. He came back a moment later and said, " _He's not answering. Can you go and check on him?_ "

"Sure. Where was he last seen?"

Once Suzaku got Nagata's last known location, he pushed himself to his feet and jumped onto the tracks, heading down the tunnel. It hadn't taken him that long to get from the Tokyo Tower to the old subway tunnel mostly because he knew the shortcuts of the Shinjuku Ghetto like the back of his own hand. He had been living in them for so long, when he wasn't helping out the other resistances in the area, that he'd come to memorize where everything was.

He walked in silence, aware of the crunch of his boots against the gravel and broken pieces of stone, and stuffed his hands into the pockets of his trenchcoat. His gaze lifted to the ceiling of the subway, his brow furrowed in worry and maybe a little bit of fear, mostly for Kallen. If Kallen got hurt while fighting against Britannia, and Naoto found out that Suzaku knew about it, he was likely not going to be happy.

Suzaku swore that all older brothers had Overprotective Older Brother Syndrome. Lelouch definitely did as everyone had found out at the Kururugi Shrine when Lelouch had verbally bitch-slapped Josui Kusakabe when he made the mistake of insulting Nunnally while he was visiting the shrine. Even if Lelouch hated exercise with a passion, and lacked much stamina, his intelligence and his way with words certainly made up for that.

It wasn't that Lelouch wasn't strong. He was since he had been able to carry Nunnally for hours on end sometimes during the invasion, so long as they didn't go very fast; he just hated exercise and lacked stamina as a result.

Musing that Naoto's over-protectiveness had been what brought Lelouch to mind, Suzaku pushed the thought out of his mind. Though he was a bit worried, he still had confidence in Kallen's ability as a knightmare pilot; she knew how to fight and she knew when to fight and when to run. She could take care of herself.

He was nearing where Ohgi had lost contact with Nagata and paused when he heard the sound of squealing tires. He edged forward, pressing himself against the wall and peering into the chamber that he was about to enter, scanning the area for any sign of Nagata or any threats. He didn't see anything except for the truck, which was caught in a gutter, smoke pouring out of the engine, and tires still spinning rapidly. The lights were on, slicing beams of light into the darkness and there was no movement.

Suzaku was about to call Ohgi and tell him that he found the truck when he heard movement. He turned his gaze to the door, reaching into his pocket and pulling out the night-vision goggles he'd received from the JLF back when he was with them. Slipping them on and turning them on, Suzaku watched as the door to the side of the truck slid open and out into the open stepped the last person he'd expected to see.

Even though the tint of the night-vision goggles bathed everything in green, there was no mistaking that willowy form, those intelligent eyes, and those aristocratic facial features that defined him as a member of the nobility.

Or a member of _royalty_.

 _Lelouch?_

What he was doing there, Suzaku had no idea but he had to get him out of there. Not only was it dangerous for a Britannian to be in the ghetto that was currently undergoing a rebel operation but it was even more dangerous if Lelouch was recognized.

He was about to step out of the tunnel when someone else entered it, a Britannian soldier by the looks of him. His uniform was nondescript and there were no bars to indicate which rank he held, which suggested that he was of a low rank. That was what Suzaku thought anyway; even if the soldier was of a low rank, though, he wasn't about to reveal himself to the Britannian.

"Step away from the capsule, terrorist," the soldier said, removing the lower part of the helmet he was wearing so that he could be heard and moving forward into the light from the truck.

Lelouch frowned. "Terrorist? What are you talking about?" he demanded.

"Don't play dumb," the soldier said. "You're part of the group that stole that poison gas. Now step away from it. I don't want to hurt you."

"Poison gas?" Lelouch looked startled and he looked back at the gas capsule and, a moment later, his lips curled into a sneer. "Of course it would be poison gas. I really shouldn't be surprised at all."

"Move away from it," the soldier insisted firmly. "You'll just harm a bunch of innocents if you release that and I won't let you hurt them."

Lelouch scoffed. "I'm not a terrorist. I just got caught into this mess by accident," he said and the hate appeared on his face as he added, "And if you don't want a bunch of innocents to get hurt then why don't you just destroy Britannia?"

That caused the soldier to falter and pause and Suzaku, remembering when he last heard those words, studied his friend. It was clear that Lelouch still held on to his belief that Britannia deserved to be destroyed. He could still remember when Lelouch had made that declaration right before they had separated.

 _Someday, I will destroy Britannia!_

The soldier continued to study Lelouch. "Well, I'm gonna blame the fact that I didn't recognize you until you said that on the fact that these stupid helmets make everyone look and sound alike," he said, removing the helmet to reveal short-cropped auburn hair framing his face while bright friendly blue eyes shone in the light from the truck.

 _W...What? It's him? Why...Why would he…?_

Suzaku was in a bit of shock. He didn't know whether to be happy that both of his best friends were alive and well or horrified and furious that one of them was actually fighting for the same country that destroyed Japan, that murdered Suzaku's entire family and countless others.

He clenched his hand into a fist but said nothing, still not wanting to reveal his presence just yet.

Lelouch recognized the boy as well. "Shin?" he said surprised. "You joined the Britannian Army?"

"And you became a terrorist?" Shintaro Ihara asked, moving forward so that he was only a few feet away from Lelouch.

"Yeah, you're definitely Shin. You still don't listen half the time when someone's speaking to you," Lelouch said. "I already told you that I got caught in this mess by accident."

Shintaro raised an eyebrow. "Just how the hell did that even happen? I thought Suzaku was the reckless one. Did he rub off on you or something?" he asked amused, tucking his helmet under his arm.

Suzaku scowled at that.

Lelouch narrowed his eyes. "That's not important now, Shin. Why did you join the Britannian Army?"

Shintaro looked away, chewing on his lower lip as he had a tendency of doing when he was nervous. He didn't get the chance to reply when the gas capsule suddenly started opening, valves releasing as hoses detached from the capsule.

Shintaro swore and grabbed Lelouch's arm, yanking him away from the gas capsule, not that it would do much good. Suzaku swore as well, staring at the gas capsule and thinking the same thing that came out of Shintaro's mouth.

"Well, fuck."

The gas capsule bloomed open like a flower but, instead of noxious gas being released, a bound girl, her long green hair falling in waves down her back, was revealed. She was dressed in a white straightjacket with her arms crossed over her chest with a white gag around her mouth and glazed golden eyes. She slumped to the ground as Lelouch, Shintaro, and Suzaku stared at the girl.

 _That's not poison gas,_ Suzaku thought.

"What. The. Actual. Hell?" Shintaro said bewildered.

Lelouch was already on his feet and moving toward the girl, not deeming it necessary to respond to Shintaro's reaction to the sudden appearance of the girl in the gas capsule. "Help me get her out of these restraints," he said and Shintaro, yanking himself out of his thoughts, rushed forward to help.

"But be serious with me, Shin. This girl? Poison gas?" the exiled prince added.

"That's what we were told," Shintaro objected.

Lelouch didn't respond, not looking the slightest bit surprised, as he removed the gag around the woman's mouth while Shintaro worked on undoing the buckles. Once they were undone, Lelouch and Shintaro teamed up to move the girl out of the truck.

Suzaku was about to go and help them but stopped when the sound of feet crunching against the loose gravel of the subway tunnel's floors came to him and he turned. He swore inwardly as he watched the group of Britannians enter the chamber; their clothing were what told him of what they were. They were part of Prince Clovis's Royal Guard.

 _I can only hope that they don't know anything about Lelouch being a prince,_ Suzaku thought, crouching down and removing the night-vision goggles, since the Royal Guard had brought along some floodlights and flashlights to light up the chamber.

"You stupid monkey! Being an Honorary Britannian won't excuse you for this," the leader exclaimed, glaring at Shintaro.

The auburn-haired young man scrambled to his feet and darted over to the Royal Guard, raising his hand in a salute. "I apologize, sir, but I was told it was poison gas," he said.

"Tch, don't you dare question orders, Private," the leader snapped.

 _He wasn't, asshole,_ Suzaku thought.

"I apologize, sir," Shintaro said meekly.

Now that was a big change. The Shintaro that Suzaku knew and grew up with was _never_ meek.

Lelouch shifted, propping the girl against the truck, and the Royal Guard's eyes went to him. Thankfully, Suzaku saw no sign of recognition in their eyes, which was a relief. At least they didn't recognize Lelouch as a member of the Royal Family. However, that had its own share of problems since that meant that they likely saw him as a threat.

"However, Private, in light of your achievement here, I will be lenient if you take this gun and kill the terrorist," the leader said, removing his gun from his holster and holding it out to Shintaro.

Shintaro looked startled.

Suzaku gritted his teeth, his hand going to the gun that he kept holstered at his side beneath his trenchcoat on the off chance that he would need it. He usually only ever used it to wound someone in order to get away but he couldn't let Lelouch die, or Shintaro for that matter. He knew Shintaro well enough to know that he wouldn't do it; he wouldn't kill his best friend.

At least, the old Shintaro wouldn't.

"He's not a terrorist. He's just someone who got caught up in this mess on accident," Shintaro protested, eyeing the gun as if it was a venomous snake.

"Tch, you damn monkey. Did you not swear your loyalty to Britannia? Are you going to disobey orders?" the leader demanded.

"I refuse to kill the innocent," Shintaro said, keeping his voice level and, though the meekness was still there, Suzaku heard the undercurrent of steel that was more like the Shintaro that he'd grown up with.

"Fine then. Then you've outlived your usefulness," the leader said, turning the gun around and firing it at Shintaro.

 _Shin!_

"Shin!" Lelouch shouted as the bullet crashed into Shintaro's chest and he crumpled motionless to the ground.

Suzaku's jaw clenched. _You bastards!_ He thought angrily. Britannia had already taken his immediate family from him, now they'd taken Shin? All they had done was increase his hatred for them.

"Now then, it's your turn," the leader said, turning his gun to Lelouch who'd pushed himself to his feet, putting himself between the leader and the green-haired girl who'd gotten up behind him.

Just then, Suzaku saw movement in the cab of the truck and he turned toward it in time to see Nagata slowly draw himself into a sitting position and reached for something on the dash, his lips moving to form the words " _nippon banzai!_ " as his finger crashed into something on the dash.

And the truck erupted into a pillar of flame.

Suzaku wasted no time. He had to get Lelouch out of there while the Royal Guard were distracted. He, regrettably, couldn't do anything about Shin—angry at him for joining the Britannian Army or not, he was still one of Suzaku's best friends, and his cousin, one of the few members of his family he had left—but if he could save Lelouch's life then he would. He darted over to join Lelouch, grabbing his arm and yanking him to his feet.

"Let's go, now!" he said and began practically dragging Lelouch toward the tunnel. Lelouch, with a yelp, quickly lashed out a hand to grab the green-haired girl's arm and drag her behind him. The three of them, under the cover of flying debris and smoke, bolted back into the tunnel and were swallowed by the darkness.

 **. . .**

"Just what the hell is going on here?" Naoto said bewildered as he crouched in the darkness of an alley, watching as Britannians stormed through the streets of the Shinjuku Ghetto, their guns held in their hands. They moved in groups and Naoto narrowed his eyes as he moved deeper into the shadows, one hand gripping the hilt of the gun at his side. He'd come closer to the heart of the ghetto because he knew that was where he would find his friends but he hadn't expected there to be a battle.

And he had also seen a very familiar red Glasgow fighting a Britannian Sutherland nearby, which made worry and frustration go through him. Worry for the life of his little sister who was fighting and frustration because Kallen was far too stubborn to sit out a fight.

Granted, Naoto still didn't know just what the fight was about.

But then he had been out of the loop for the past three months so he decided that he would try to find Ohgi. If anyone would know what was going on then it was going to be the current leader of the Kozuki Resistance.

 _Now where would Ohgi be?_ Naoto thought and was about to head back the way he had come when he heard the crack of gunfire. Whirling around, his eyes widened as he watched a storm of bullets crash into the citizens of the Shinjuku Ghetto who were out on the streets. It wasn't just them, though; Naoto watched as Britannian soldiers entered buildings and apartment complexes and came out stained with blood.

 _What are they doing? They're killing everyone!_ Naoto thought in shock. That was something he had never liked; killing the innocent was one of the things that Naoto loathed the most, whether they were Japanese or Britannian. Protecting those who were innocent, no matter their nationality, was a sentiment that was shared by very few members of his resistance, since most of them didn't really see Britannians as innocent—Naoto hoped that sentiment would change with time—but it was one of his core beliefs.

He wasn't surprised that Britannia didn't care who they were killing. They were just that cold-hearted and their actions clearly served to illustrated just how cold-hearted they were, cold-hearted sheep willing to follow the orders of their masters no matter what. It made Naoto's blood boil but he was only one person. He couldn't really do much to stop the massacre.

But if he could find his resistance then he might be able to get some backup, if they weren't already fighting back against Britannia for this injustice.

"Hey, there's someone in here," one soldier said and Naoto swore when he saw a soldier dragging a child that looked no older than six out of an alley. The girl was terrified, tears staining her face, and dirt and grime covered her torn clothing.

"It's just a kid," the second soldier said worriedly. There were only the two of them as the rest of the soldiers had moved on to another area, content with leaving the rest of the area with these two soldiers, Naoto guessed.

"We have our orders. Prince Clovis ordered us to leave no one alive," the first soldier said and pointed his gun at the scared little girl.

Naoto limped out of the alley, his gun in his hand and fired two shots in rapid succession. The first crashed into the neck of the first soldier before he could pull the trigger while the second just barely missed the second man's head. The second man yanked his gun out but Naoto was already firing at him, sending three bullets flying rapidly at the second man. The soldier managed to dodge two of them but the third crashed into his head and he slumped motionless to the ground.

Returning the gun to his holster, Naoto grabbed the cane he'd discarded since his leg was aching from putting pressure on it without the aid of the cane and limped toward the girl. "Are you okay?" he asked gently.

The little girl swallowed and nodded, her eyes large and filled with tears of terror. They flickered to his leg and concern filled them. "You're hurt," she gasped.

"I'll be fine. I want you to go find someplace to hide. Do not come out no matter what you hear outside, okay?"

"O...Okay."

"And if men like them,"—Naoto pointed to the motionless soldiers—"come near your hiding place, play dead and they'll leave you alone, okay?" She had been covered a little with the blood of the two soldiers and Naoto hoped it would hide the fact that she was alive if soldiers found her.

"O...Okay," the little girl said and, scrambling to her feet, bolted for the nearest building.

Pushing himself to his feet, Naoto was about to start moving again when a shocked gasp sounded behind him.

"Naoto?"

He turned and smiled a little at the familiar blue-haired form of Naomi Inoue standing there with a missile launcher on her back and her hair held back by the red headband around her forehead. She stared at him in utter shock, one hand covering her mouth. Next to her was the purple-haired form of Yoshitaka Minami and the blue-haired form of Kento Sugiyama, both of them were just as shocked as she was.

"Hey Naomi, Yoshi, Kento," he greeted them softly, using their first names as he only ever did when he wasn't in the middle of leading an operation or running his resistance. After all, they were his friends, had been with him since he first started his resistance.

"You...You...but...he...I mean...how?" Inoue stammered out.

"Now's not really the time. What the hell is going on here?" Naoto said, gesturing to the massacre. "I come back and I find that the Shinjuku Ghetto has been turned into a warzone."

"C'mon, we should regroup with Yoshida. I'll explain on the way," Inoue said finally.

Naoto nodded and limped over to join them, the cane taking the pressure off his leg, very much aware of the way Inoue's, Minami's, and Sugiyama's eyes were drawn to the injured leg. "That'd be best for now," he agreed.

 **. . .**

"Just what are you? Why the hell are you so important that Clovis would kill to keep you a secret?" Lelouch said panting as he, the green-haired girl, and their unknown, though oddly familiar, savior came to a stop near the base of a set of stairs that would take them to the station above. He let go of the girl's arm and leaned against the wall, panting and taking deep breaths in an attempt to get his breath back.

The girl didn't respond, just blinked at him, making him wonder if she was drugged. It seemed likely.

The man in the hooded cloak started chuckling.

Lelouch turned to glare at the man. "And who are you anyway?" he said, a bit miffed that he was being laughed at.

"I'm surprised you didn't recognize my voice but I suppose, since it's been seven years, I really shouldn't," the man said and lowered the hood of his trenchcoat, revealing unruly brown hair and bright emerald green eyes, eyes that Lelouch recognized in an instant.

"S...Suzaku?" he said in shock.

"It's good to see you again, Lelouch," Suzaku said with a small smile.

Lelouch pushed away from the wall, studying one of his oldest and best friends. Suzaku hadn't changed much since Lelouch last saw him, except getting taller; even the quiet haunted look in his eyes was still simmering beneath the surface. "It has been a while. I'm glad you're all right though but what are you doing down here?" he said.

"I should be asking you the same thing," Suzaku said. "I thought I was the one who usually rushed recklessly into situations."

"Maybe Shin was right and you rubbed off on me," Lelouch said and a small sad smile crossed his lips while anger simmered beneath. He had just been reunited with his other oldest and best friend moments ago, only for Britannia to kill him just as they had taken away almost everyone else he cared about.

He was grateful that Suzaku was alive though.

"In all honesty, I got into this mess because I was trying to see if the two drivers of that truck were all right after they crashed," Lelouch said. "I was checking on them and I, kinda, fell into the truck."

Suzaku blinked and then started chuckling.

Lelouch glared at him. " _Anyway,_ why are you here?" he asked.

Cutting off his laughter, Suzaku shrugged. "I thought that was poison gas and decided to help get it out of Britannia's hands," he said.

"So you were working with the rebels?"

"You could say that." Suzaku paused and tilted his head up and Lelouch also looked up as the sound of feet crunching on gravel echoed above their heads. He glanced at Lelouch who nodded, pressed a finger to his lips, and tilting his head toward the stone steps in the secret language they had developed. _Be quiet. Check the s_ _itu_ _ation._

Suzaku nodded once and moved quietly over to the stairs.

Lelouch turned to the girl. "Stay quiet," he whispered as quietly as possible.

The girl blinked but nodded slightly. _Good, she can understand what she's hearing._ Lelouch turned and followed Suzaku, crouching down beside him at the top of the stairs as members of the Royal Guard emerged into view.

"Well, it's only Elevens in here. Are you sure that the tunnel came out here?" the leader asked.

"We're sure, sir," a soldier asked.

"Let's head back outside. We can sweep the area outside and, if we turn up nothing, we'll look somewhere else," the leader said and they started to walk away.

Suzaku and Lelouch shared a brief relieved look.

But their relief came too soon.

A sharp ringing tore through the silence of the warehouse and Lelouch swore, yanking his phone out of his pocket and quickly ignoring the call. _Damn it, Shirley. Did you have to call_ now _?_ He thought.

Suzaku gave him a look that clearly conveyed his irritation with that little incident.

"How was I supposed to know someone would call?" Lelouch mouthed as he heard the Royal Guard approach their location.

Suzaku just shook his head, the irritation fading into worry.

"There, that's where the ringing came from. And look, we've found them, sir," a Royal Guardsman said as two others moved forward to grab the three of them.

"I can see that," the leader said flatly.

Suzaku was on his feet in an instant and crashing a kick to the face of the first Royal Guardsman before he knew what hit him. Pivoting on one foot, he fired a gun that Lelouch didn't even know he had at the second, forcing him to dodge out of the way. Suzaku was quick, dancing to the side to avoid the bullets that came from the other Guardsmen and landing a few bullets in those guards' shoulders and arms, forcing them to drop their guns.

The guardsman that hadn't been harmed darted toward Lelouch and grabbed him by the arm, yanking him to his feet and he felt the barrel of a gun poke into his side. "Stop or I'll kill him," the guardsman said firmly.

Suzaku froze and his lips twisted into a snarl, his emerald eyes flashing with barely restrained fury. But he stopped, his eyes trained on the gun that was jammed into Lelouch's side, and two of the injured guardsmen took advantage of that to tackle him.

"I'm surprised, an Eleven willingly standing down to protect a Britannian," the leader said as the guardsman that Suzaku had kicked in the face and another, uninjured one darted past the one holding Lelouch to grab the green-haired girl. They dragged her over to join the leader and the leader nodded approvingly.

"Well, looks like this is the end of the line. I do regret it, since you look Britannian, and a pureblood at that, but this is what happens when you consort with terrorists," the leader said, pointing his gun at Lelouch as he was thrown forward and pulling the trigger.

"No, don't kill him!" The green-haired woman shouted as she broke away from the guardsman that were holding her and darted forward. She threw herself in front of Lelouch and the bullet hit her squarely in the forehead.

She crumpled to lay motionless on the ground and Lelouch couldn't do anything but stare, eyes wide with surprise, finding it hard to comprehend that this woman that he didn't even know had just given her life for him. His knees buckled and he knelt down beside the dead girl as the gun was trained on him again.

 _Is this really the end of the line? No, it can't be. I haven't even done anything yet! And what about Nunnally? And Suzaku for that matter?_ Lelouch thought in desperation.

Just then, he felt someone grasp his wrist and he looked down, eyes wide with shock, when he discovered that it was the girl who'd grabbed his wrist.

And then everything around him went black.

 **. . .**

"You damn Britannians!" Kallen shouted in fury as she fired a Slash Harken at one of the Sutherland's assault rifle because he could fire it on the clump of civilians that were trying to get out of there. The attack caused the Sutherland's pilot to turn his attention to her, for which she was glad because it gave the civilians a chance to get out of harm's way.

She grinned fiercely as she retracted the Slash Harken and glided rapidly toward the Sutherland, firing her Slash Harken again as she drew closer. The Sutherland dodged only for a hail of bullets from Kallen's assault rifle to slam into its side; Kallen spun on her landspinners, barreling herself into the Sutherland and driving it backwards, right into the path of a missile.

She jumped backwards and whirled around, searching for another enemy as an explosion sounded behind her as the missile made contact with the Sutherland. Speeding down the streets of the ghetto, which were thankfully empty save for those who were already unfortunately killed, Kallen found another Sutherland who was firing at a building.

" _Kallen! Thank God! I need some help here!_ " Yoshida's voice sounded over the radio.

"Where're Inoue, Sugiyama, and Minami?" Kallen asked as she fired her Slash Harkens at the Sutherland, crashing one into the joint where the shoulder of the knightmare met the arm. The other one missed because the Sutherland had pivoted out of the way.

" _I got separated from them about fifteen minutes ago._ _They're somewhere around here_ _. And_ _guess_ _who they found!_ " Yoshida sounded shocked and happy all at the same time.

"While I'm curious to know who, we've gotta focus on ending this before more people get killed," Kallen said, ripping the Slash Harken out of the knightmare's shoulder and peppering the gap with bullets. The Sutherland was swift to dodge out of the way of most of the bullets, though some did manage to get into the rift, causing an explosion that nearly severed the arm.

Another Slash Harken to the rift caused the arm to be severed completely.

" _True. Okay. Now that you've got that knightmare distracted, I and the people with me should be able to get out,_ " Yoshida said.

"People with you?" Kallen echoed, retracting the Slash Harken and gliding rapidly backwards to avoid the Sutherland's own Slash Harkens.

" _Yeah, I ran across a group of kids hiding in the building I'm in. I'm gonna try and get 'em to the sewers. That'll get 'em outta the ghetto for now,_ " Yoshida said.

"Good luck, _" Kallen said._

" _Good luck to you, Kallen_ -chan."

Kallen tilted the controls of her Glasgow out of the way to avoid a barrage of bullets from her enemy and fired back at him, one eye casting a look at her energy percentage level. She bit her lip. _Yeah, I'm definitely gonna need that luck,_ she thought. She was down to about forty minutes worth of energy and there were still quite a few enemies around.

She jerked her controls and careened around a building and her enemy gave chase. As it rounded the corner, she fired one Slash Harken directly at its chest and it dodged swiftly to the side, too late to realize that it was a feint. The second Slash Harken she sent flying sank directly into its factsphere with enough force to knock the Sutherland off its feet and the cockpit to eject before the Sutherland finished its sudden fall.

Letting out the breath that she'd been holding, Kallen turned around to track down another enemy. It was a good thing she did, otherwise the Slash Harken that came flying at her would have crashed directly into her factsphere; instead it shot through the joint where shoulder met arm and was yanked back with enough force that it severed the entire arm. The Glasgow's arm, and the assault rifle that was attached to it, was sent flying and Kallen was nearly knocked off her feet.

 _Son of a bitch,_ she thought furiously as, the instant she regained her balance, she backed away as fast as she could. The street she'd turned onto to defeat that last Sutherland was too narrow to fight against the newcomer; she needed to lure it to an open space where she could use her Slash Harkens without worrying about it hitting a wall or something.

The Sutherland chased her, peppering her already battered Glasgow with bullets. She weaved as best she could to avoid the bullets but many still managed to strike her remaining arm, her leg, and her back. The diagnostics that Kallen quickly ran told her that the damage wasn't that significant but she knew that if she kept getting hit then the insignificant damage would eventually add up until it became significant.

She glanced at her energy gauge. _About_ _thirty_ _-five minutes_ _left_ _. So only five minutes has gone by? It felt longer,_ she thought as she ducked her knightmare into a wide alley between two buildings and shot toward the ruined plaza. The space there would give her more room to work with.

As she expected, the Sutherland followed her, still firing bullets.

Whirling around, she fired her Slash Harkens at the Sutherland. The Sutherland retaliated by firing his own back at her; the Slash Harkens crashed into each other and were diverted into the walls on either side of them, gorging thick scars into the stone as Kallen and her enemy retracted them swiftly.

She emerged out of the alley and spun to the right, speeding rapidly toward the plaza in the distance, aware of the Sutherland that was still behind her because she could hear the bullets striking her knightmare's frame. Thankfully, the damage wasn't significant enough to warrant warning signs from the knightmare but it was getting there.

 _Open space will help a bit. At least it'll prevent my Slash Harkens from running into obstacles,_ Kallen thought as she whirled around to face her enemy, glancing at the energy gauge as she did so.

 _Thirty_ _minutes left._

 **. . .**

It was to bright fluorescent lights that Shintaro woke up and he grimaced as he was momentarily blinded by the white light. He closed his eyes again and opened them slower so that they could adjust to the bright light. His entire body ached as if someone had just hit him with a Slash Harken and his head was aching a little.

All of that told him that he was still alive.

And that confused the hell out of him.

 _I'm pretty sure I got shot in the chest. How the hell did I survive that?_ Shintaro thought slowly sitting up, though his chest did ache a bit from the movement. That pain was enough to tell him that he hadn't just imagined getting shot but still did nothing to explain how he survived.

"Private Ihara! Good morning to you. Looks like you missed your chance to go to Heaven!" A far-too-cheerful voice said happily and Shintaro looked to find a young man in a long white lab coat with pale blue hair and glasses resting on the bridge of his nose striding toward him from the door. He was followed by a shorter indigo-haired woman who wore the uniform and bars that marked her as a Major.

"Um...how?" Shintaro asked in confusion.

"Two reasons actually," the man in the lab coat said. "One is that the bullet got caught in something that stopped it from going through you."

He fell silent as he _skipped_ over to the computer screen and sat down while Shintaro blinked.

"What's the other reason?" he asked.

"Hmm?"

"You said there were two reasons."

"Oh, right, right. Yeah, the other reason is that we were the ones who happened to find you! Had anyone else found you, they'd have just left ya there," the man in the lab coat said with a grin.

The indigo-haired woman scowled, stalked up to the man, and elbowed him sharply in the side. "Ignore him, Private Ihara," she said with a gentle smile as the man yelped in pain as she walked to the medical bed's side. "How do you feel?"

"Sore. I still don't understand...what slowed down the bullet?" Shintaro said bewildered. He hadn't been wearing a kevlar vest and he couldn't think of anything else that would slow down the bullet. Almost self-consciously, his hand went to his neck where the silver chain of the locket he had gotten from his twin sister on his birthday a few months before the start of the invasion hung, only to freeze when he didn't feel it.

And then he saw it, or rather what was left of it, dangling from the apologetic indigo-haired woman's hand.

The locket was dented and Shintaro could see the bullet poking out of the thick metal cover.

"The locket's cover was thick enough that it stopped the bullet completely," the indigo-haired woman said as she held out the locket.

He took it and immediately clicked it open, gazing at the image of a younger him with a shorter, girl version of himself standing next to him, a wide grin on her face as she created bunny ears over his head.

 _Satomi…_

"It's obviously really important to you," the indigo-haired woman commented.

"Yeah, it is," Shintaro murmured as he gazed at the image before he closed the locket and slipped the silver chain around his neck. He looked around, fingering the locket around his neck. "Where am I?"

"The A.S.E.E.C.'s base," the man in the lab coat said cheerfully.

Shintaro blinked. That didn't clear up anything for him.

"The Advanced Special Envoy Engineering Corps," the indigo haired woman clarified. "I'm Major Cecile Croomy and this is Earl Lloyd Asplund."

"Just call me Lloyd," Asplund added with a flippant wave of his hand. He studied Shintaro for a moment curiously. "By the way, have you ever piloted a knightmare?"

"Um, only in simulations, sir," Shintaro said warily, not entirely sure why he was being asked. Everyone knew that the closest a Number would get to piloting a knightmare frame was in simulations.

"Hmm, true, true," Lloyd said, turning his gaze back to the computer screen and scrolling through it. "Ah, but here it says that you scored a 95% on the Knightmare Qualification Test! That's pretty amazing for a Number! Congrats, as a result, you get to be my test pilot."

"Test...pilot?" Shintaro stared.

"Yup. You get to test pilot my newest creation," Lloyd said cheerfully, standing up so suddenly that the chair he'd been sitting in was thrown backwards. He pulled out a white-and-gold activation key that was tucked into the pocket of his lab coat and twirled it between his fingers. "With your percentage score, I have no doubt that you'll be able to pilot it well!"

"That's only if your theory is correct though," Croomy reminded him.

"What better way to test it out! Here!"

Shintaro's hand shot out reflexively to catch the white-and-gold activation key that Lloyd had just tossed at him and he had to act quickly to catch the manual that Lloyd threw at him next.

"Lloyd! You could have just handed them to him," Croomy said, running her hand over her face in exasperation.

Shintaro just stared at them, completely bewildered. "Um...I don't understand...you want me to... _what?_ "

"Pilot my newest creation," Lloyd said.

"What is your newest creation?" Shintaro asked, tilting his head to the side because he was rather curious.

"Why it's the prototype of the first seventh generation knightmare frame. I call it the _Lancelot!_ "

 **. . .**

Sipping at a cocktail as he leaned back in his seat, his feet resting on the coffee table in front of him, his golden hair flowing down to his shoulders as his silver eyes fixed on the ceiling, A.A. chuckled. The stirring within the World of C was strong as it always was whenever a Code Bearer handed out a contract and it was rather interesting of just who was handing out the contract. Even if A.A. didn't know to whom the contract was being given, he had to admit that, after what happened with that Chinese man, he was surprised she was giving another one out.

Taking another small drink of his cocktail, A.A. closed his eyes. "Well, whoever this new contractor is, it's bound to make things interesting. Hmm, I still have to find someone to form a contract with myself, though I'll probably just go with him," he murmured, swirling the liquid in the cocktail glass.

... _Talking to yourself?…_ A soft but masculine voice said and then chuckled when A.A. started and nearly spilled his cocktail. He had not been expecting to hear from him.

"What. The. Hell?!" A.A. exclaimed, groaning and relaxing back against the couch cushion. Why're you here? I already know what I've gotta do and all that 'cause the crazy bastard (1) somehow slipped into this dimension for a reason even I don't know. Besides, doesn't this break your code of 'not interfering'?"

... _Not technically. I am not interfering. I'm just talking to an old friend…_

A.A. huffed. "Old friend, my ass. You're the reason why I'm stuck in this dimension to begin with," he said.

... _Would you much rather be_ _back there and leaving_ him _with free reign here?_...

"Okay, I get your point. I would not want that. So why're you here?" A.A. said. "You cannot interfere. It goes against everything you stand for. You're part of the Divine Council and Council Members cannot interfere."

... _This is not interfering. This is informing. It is not as if I can tell you of what will happen and what will not happen. I can only tell you_ _certain_ _th_ _ings._

"Tch. Fine, fine. So can you get to telling me why you're contacting me? 'Cause I need another drink and I have to get to the store. I've got a boxset I need to pick up," A.A. said, swinging his feet off the coffee table and standing up, downing the last of his cocktail as he did so.

... _The lack of movement from_ him _is worrisome…_

"I know. I mean he did come to this dimension for a reason and I haven't figured out what that reason is."

... _Keep an eye on his counterpart. If we are right then he shall gain power, if he has not yet, and that will automatically make him a target..._

"Naturally, especially if the power he gains proves beneficial to _him._ So is that it?"

... _Yes. That is it. However I do have a question._ _What do you think_ _about_ his _counterpart from_ _what you have observed? We know that you have been watching both of them and the third variable that is one of the marks that makes this_ _dimension_ _different. What are your thoughts?…_

A.A. was silent for a long moment. "He is very similar to _him_ ," he said finally, "but nothing has happened to taint him with the darkness that tainted _him_."

... _Likely because he has_ _n't_ _experienced the tragedy_ he _did…_

"Likely so."

 _…Well, now that I've delivered the message,_ _I must go now._ _Good day, Azrae_ _l..._

"Tch. Don't call me that," A.A. muttered as he entered the elevator and pressed the down button.

... _You should be honored to be named after an angel…_

A.A. ignored that and, instead, focused is thoughts on what he'd just learned, and just how badly things could go with that psycho there.

 **. . .**

It felt like hours had gone by since the moment the green-haired woman had grabbed his wrist. It felt like hours had gone by since she had given him the offer of a contract and a power to go with it. It felt like hours had gone by since he had accepted the offer and received a power that even boggled his mind.

In reality, however, only a couple of minutes had gone by.

Lelouch blinked as the woman let go of his wrist, her hand falling limply to her side. His left eye burned slightly and he rested a hand against it as if that would ease it. It wasn't painful, though; it was just odd but wasn't entirely uncomfortable either. And then the power itself; Lelouch had no idea how he knew what it was called or how to use it but he did. Perhaps the girl had something to do with it but, frankly, he found that he didn't care.

If it would get him and Suzaku out of this matter alive then he would take his chances.

 _Now what to do? Hmm, I don't know if there are any limitations to this power so I will have to tread carefully but, for now, let's get out of this mess and then I can work on learning more about this power,_ Lelouch thought as he stood up to face Clovis's Royal Guard.

"I commend you for being willing to stand up before your death," the leader said, his gun still trained on Lelouch.

"Before you shoot, let me ask you something," Lelouch said calmly, patiently. "Just how do you think a Britannian who hates his country is supposed to live his life?"

The Royal Guard looked at each other, clearly confused by the question.

"What are you? Some sort of radical or something," the leader said in bewilderment, though his face took on a look of unease when Lelouch smirked at him, a not-so-nice smirk.

"What's the matter?" he asked innocently, despite the icy smirk that was still on his lips. "Aren't you going to shoot? After all, I'm just an unarmed schoolboy. Or have you finally realized the truth? That those who kill should only be those who are prepared to _be_ killed."

He released his left eye and it burned as the bird-like red sigil of Geass—his mind supplied him that name. Once again, he had a feeling the girl was behind that too—flared brightly around his pupil. "I, Lelouch vi Britannia, command you: obey my every order!" he declared, deciding that having them follow his every order was a much better command then just killing them.

The Royal Guard stiffened, their eyes widening as a red ring appeared around their irises and they saluted. "Yes, Your Highness," they declared in one voice.

"First off, release Suzaku," Lelouch said, gesturing to where two of the guardsmen were still pinning Suzaku to the ground. They quickly got off him and stood up, saluting again while Suzaku picked himself up to his feet and blinked. He looked from Lelouch to the guardsmen and back to Lelouch, puzzlement clear upon his face.

Lelouch, for himself, was admiring how swiftly and smoothly they obeyed his order. They still stood, watching him, awaiting their next orders, and he couldn't help it. The icy smirk that was on his lips morphed into a demonic one.

"Well, then," he murmured.

"Lelouch, what the hell…?" Suzaku said bewildered.

Lelouch glanced at his best friend and the grin was replaced by a soft, genuine smile as the Geass sigil vanished from his eye. "Suzaku, my old friend, I very much doubt you'll believe me," he said. "And the story can wait. For now, we have a massacre to stop and I have a half-brother that I must speak to. Come, you said that you're helping out the rebels, right?"

"Yeah?" Suzaku frowned at him, clearly still very confused but Lelouch ignored it as his mind turned cogs in his head as a plan began to form.

"Contact them. I have a plan," he said, turning his gaze back to the Royal Guard, not checking to see if Suzaku listened to him or not. "As for you, these are your orders..."

 **. . .**

 _Next Time: Exchanges of Knowledge_

 _ **. . .**_

(1) Side note, the person A.A. is referring is not an OC. A.A., Shintaro, Satomi, and Lana are the only major OCs in this story, and there are a few minor OCs that were created for the purpose of actually giving names to a terrorist group that will actually play a bigger role than they had in canon.

 **. . .**

 **A/n what do you think?**

 **Blaze: welp, that was the second chapter and part one of the Shinjuku Ghetto incident**

 **Lelouch: isn't part two of the Shinjuku Ghetto incident only covered in half of the next chapter?**

 **Blaze: something like that**

 **Suzaku: and your OCs?**

 **Blaze: like I said, in the side note, only A.A., Shintaro, Satomi, and Lana are important, and they will be explored as thoroughly as possible and fleshed out and rounded as best I can in future chapters.**

 **Suzaku: so while Shintaro is playing the role I played in canon, it's going to be different?**

 **Blaze: yup...kinda...you'll see. Anyway, I hope that you enjoyed this chapter and reviews, as always, are much appreciated.**


	3. Exchanges of Knowledge

**Yay! I'm back with the third chapter of my newest CG fic! I hope that you guys like it.**

 **Anyway, thank you to _DynoJackal19, OmegaChrome, Doommajor, ryder77, demedichi, davycrockett100, Ghoul4Ken123, Dadycoool, Shadow-Shinobi666,_ and _DarthMaine_ for reviewing the last chapter. You guys are awesome.**

 **I hope that you guys enjoy this chapter and reviews, as always, are much appreciated.**

 **3**

 **Exchanges of Knowledge**

Naoto crouched down as best he could behind a pile of rubble and peered over it. Beyond were the screams of the innocent as they were gunned down by Britannia and, unfortunately, the number of soldiers outnumbered the number of resistance fighters that could help. If the resistance fighters tried to help, they'd likely get killed themselves.

"We can't just sit here! They need help," Sugiyama hissed.

"Not to mention, Yoshida's last known location is on the next street over," Minami said.

"We don't even know if he's still alive though," Inoue said, chewing on her lower lip in worry as she also peered over the rubble. She then turned to Naoto who gave her a curious look, one that turned more bewildered when he noticed that Minami and Sugiyama were also looking at him.

It took him a moment before he realized why they were looking at him.

They still viewed him as their leader so they were waiting for orders.

Naoto chewed on his lower lip. "Have you tried contacting Yoshida?" he asked.

"Right before we met up with you, Naoto," Minami said. "That's how we know he's in a building in the street beyond that one." He pointed to the street filled with panicked civilians, spraying bullets, and cold-faced Britannian soldiers.

"Try contacting him again and figure out his new location if he's moved. Inoue,"—Naoto pointed to a tall building next to them that was mostly intact—"go to the roof but stay out of sight as best you can. I need an assessment of the situation from a better vantage point. Sugiyama, for now, stay where you are. I won't be able to do anything until I have a better grasp on the situation."

"Yes sir," Minami, Inoue, and Sugiyama said at once. Inoue, slinging the missile launcher over her shoulder, jumped off the pile of rubble and darted toward the building, using the rubble of the fallen buildings as cover every chance she got. Minami crouched down, pulling his radio to lips as he quickly connected to the frequency Yoshida was using, and Sugiyama crouched down beside him.

Naoto lowered himself down, wincing at the dull ache in his leg, and rested his back against the rubble. He examined the area in front of him; the battle seemed to have drifted further west, closer to where the old subway tunnel was. According to Sugiyama, that was where the battle had originated, which made Naoto wonder why it was moving back to its point of origin.

He also thought about Kallen. So far, they hadn't heard much about where Kallen had ended up and he was worried. He was her big brother, the only member of their family that she had left that she truly cared about, and he had the right to be worried.

 _Mother, would you have liked that Kallen was fighting to fulfill your final wish just as I am?_ Naoto thought.

He didn't know. His mother had always been very protective of them while they were growing up, especially since they looked more Britannian than anything and that led to some clashes with the other Japanese following the end of the Second Pacific War. So there was a good chance that she wouldn't be happy that she was fighting nor would she approve; he knew that, while she would have been worried about him fighting, she wouldn't have said anything because he was already twenty-two and had only started fighting back nine months ago.

Kallen only knew about their mother's final wish because he'd told her about it. She'd asked if their mother had said anything before she died and Naoto had decided that Kallen deserved to hear their mother's final words. He was pretty sure those words had been one reason why Kallen had made the decision to fight with him.

"Naoto?"

Naoto turned his attention to Minami who had his radio resting on his lap. "What's the news?" he asked.

"Yoshida just left the sewers. Kallen had distracted the Sutherland that was about to destroy the building he and a bunch of kids were hiding out in. He escorted them through the sewers to a warehouse on the edge of the ghetto and is heading to our location now," Minami reported.

Naoto nodded.

Inoue rejoined them at that moment, panting. "Kallen's locked in a fight with a Sutherland, though she's only operating with one arm and she's being forced to retreat closer to the subway tunnel. The Sutherland she's fighting called in backup and a train is also moving to the station near the west entrance, though I don't know why it was called here."

Naoto nodded. "We'll worry about that later. For now, our best bet will be to regroup with everyone. See if you can get in touch with Kallen and..." he trailed off when Minami's radio crackled again.

Minami brought the radio to his lips. "Yes?" he said.

" _Minami, we're rendezvousing by the tracks just north of the west entrance,_ " Ohgi said. " _Something's come up._ "

"What's happened?" Minami asked worriedly.

" _It's not bad, Minami. Lone Wolf just called us and told us to rendezvous at the tracks. I think he might have a plan but he hasn't said anything, though, considering he sounded a little shaken, I'm not entirely sure that he does,_ " Ohgi admitted worriedly.

"If that's the case then should we trust him?" Inoue asked.

" _We did when we first told him about this plan,_ " Ohgi pointed out.

"And he saved my life," Naoto added, hearing a swift intake of breath across the radio. "But that's a story for another day. Right now, we need to focus on saving the lives of as many of the remaining civilians as possible."

" _R...Right,_ " Ohgi said, the shock still in his voice and he broke off. He sounded more confident when he spoke again. " _Right, we'll listen to Lone Wolf. He has helped us before and we really don't have anything to lose by listening to him. Meet at the tracks. Erm, if that's fine with you, Naoto._ "

Naoto chuckled. "You're doing fine commanding this operation, Kaname, so command it. I always knew you were leadership material," he said.

" _I'm not you._ "

"Which is good. I don't think Kallen could bear to have another me running around."

Inoue chuckled. "That's true. She gets frustrated with you and you over-protectiveness as it is. Imagine if there were two of you," she said.

"I'd rather have two Naotos than two Tamakis," Minami said.

" _I heard that!_ " Tamaki shouted over the radio.

Naoto chuckled before growing serious again. "We'll leave as soon as Yoshida joins with us," he said.

The rest of the group around him nodded in agreement.

 **. . .**

 _Why am I doing this again?_ Shintaro thought, staring up at the white-and-gold knightmare frame that hovered over him in the heart of the hangar bay. He honestly did not have an answer to that question; while the knightmare frame did look amazing, and Lloyd was clearly very proud of his work, Shintaro was still very confused about why _he,_ of all people, had been chosen to test pilot it, high score on the Qualification notwithstanding.

He decided that it was unlikely that it would ever happen again so he might as well enjoy it for the time being. Besides, he was looking forward to piloting an actual knightmare frame; it had been very fun when he'd done it in the simulation and he was hoping it would be just as fun in an actual one.

"Are you ready, Shintaro?" Croomy asked, startling Shintaro because he hadn't heard her coming and because she'd called him by his given name rather than his last name or by his rank.

"Um, yeah," he said.

"It's okay to be nervous but everything will be all right," Croomy said as she led him over to the stairs connected to the _Lancelot_. "The cockpit hatch is already open and ready to go. Did you go over the manual?"

"Most of it," Shintaro said, fidgeting a little in the white-and-gold pilot suit he'd been given. It was rather comfortable in terms of how it fit but Shintaro still didn't really feel comfortable in it; he supposed that was because he knew that it was only going to be a one time thing. It was never going to happen again so what was the point of getting comfortable?

"That'll have to do," Croomy said and handed Shintaro a communicator. He took it and fitted it around his ear, turning it on as he did so. "Okay. As of right now, we don't have any orders to launch but you can familiarize yourself with the cockpit's layout while we wait. Lloyd seems convinced that Prince Clovis will let him launch the _Lancelot_ , though I honestly can't say that it'll happen. If it does then at least you'll be ready to go and, if it doesn't, then you'll at least know the layout for when we run a test later."

Shintaro nodded. He honestly didn't know what to make of both Lloyd and Major Croomy; he hadn't really talked with Lloyd since he'd thrown the activation key and manual into his face earlier but Croomy seemed nice enough and didn't look down on him for being an Eleven. That was a plus; never before has Shintaro been treated like a normal human being by a Britannian since he joined the military.

It was oddly refreshing.

Shame it wouldn't last.

Pushing aside those thoughts, Shintaro jogged up the stairs and slipped into the cockpit's chair, pulling the lever that guided his chair into the cockpit. He looked around the darkened cockpit, the activation key resting in his hand, the only source of light coming through the opened hatch but it did little to light up the instruments.

His communicator came to life. " _Major Croomy to Private Ihara, do you read?_ " Croomy's voice sounded.

"Loud and clear, Major Croomy," Shintaro replied.

" _Good. The connection's clear. All right. We still have yet to receive any orders, though, considering the battle seems to be in our favor right now, that's not that big of a surprise. However, while we're waiting, I suppose I can go over some things about the_ Lancelot _for you. For one, at the moment, it is not equipped with an ejection mechanism so if you do get launched into battle, please be careful._ "

Shintaro blinked, stunned that Croomy would actually worry about him. _She's probably just worried about the knightmare itself,_ he thought. He really had changed since seven years ago; he never used to be this pessimistic but, after everything that'd happened, he supposed he changed.

Even Lelouch had changed a bit when they spoke.

Shintaro frowned. He didn't even know what happened to Lelouch or that green-haired girl and he decided to ask and hope that Major Croomy wouldn't get upset that he was asking her something that had nothing to do with what was happening. "Major Croomy?" he said.

" _Yes, Private?_ "

"Can I ask you something?"

" _Of course. What is it?_ "

Shintaro chewed on his lower lip, then said, "Did you...was there anyone else with me when you found me?"

" _No, there wasn't. There was a lot of debris but no one else was there. Why?_ "

"Well, it's just...never mind." Shintaro decided, at the last instant, that he didn't want Croomy to know about Lelouch; there was a chance, however slim, that Croomy might recognize the name. He was not going to blow the exiled prince's secret; Lelouch deserved to remain anonymous and so did Nunnally because that anonymity kept both of them safe.

Shintaro didn't know what would happen if the Empire ever found out that Lelouch and Nunnally vi Britannia were still alive but, since he knew that Lelouch and Nunnally had been used as political hostages and then had not been extracted from Area 11 when it was invaded, he felt that it would be bad. No. He would keep their secret as best he could; he would try to take it with him to the grave if necessary.

 **. . .**

"How the hell did you manage this?" Suzaku hissed into the radio, staring at the gleaming brand-new knightmares that lined the length of the cargo hold. They were brand-new Sutherlands and, according to Lelouch, they didn't have their transponders activated.

" _Let's just say the Royal Guard came in handy,_ " Lelouch said. " _So did you contact your rebel friends?_ "

"They're more my acquaintances than friends but, yeah, I contacted them. Ohgi'll probably get here first but Sugiyama's group shouldn't be far behind unless they ran into some trouble. What about you?"

" _I'm going to be guiding the pilot of that red Glasgow to your location soon. She's in trouble since she has the majority of the Purist Faction after her but I've already come up with an escape route that will get her to your location and help her beat her pursuers,_ " Lelouch said and Suzaku smiled a little, knowing full well that Lelouch was in his element at the moment, leading and giving orders. He was a master strategist, there was no denying that, and Suzaku knew that any plan Lelouch thought up was very likely to win.

Suzaku remembered when he and Lelouch had played their first game of chess back at the Kururugi Shrine. Suzaku's parents were gone for the day so it was just him, Lelouch, Nunnally, and Tohdoh, who'd agreed to watch over them. Lelouch had challenged him to a game of chess and Suzaku, determined to beat him, agreed and lost within only six moves. He'd been so frustrated but Tohdoh had been impressed and then asked to play Lelouch and lost to him as well.

 _"You're a pretty good strategist, Your Highness."_

 _"My brother Schneizel told me that if you can master chess then you can master battle strategies since all battles are really just chess matches on a larger and more consequential scale."_

And Lelouch had, indeed, become a master at chess.

Closing the door to the cargo train, as he decided not to ruin the surprise, Suzaku drew the hood of his trenchcoat over his head and leaned against it as he waited for his acquaintances to join him.

It wasn't long before they did.

"Lone Wolf," Ohgi greeted him as he walked over to join Suzaku with Tamaki just behind him. "Sugiyama's group hasn't shown up yet?"

"No but I think they were further out than you," Suzaku replied.

"And Kallen?"

"Don't worry. She'll be fine."

Ohgi frowned at him, brow furrowing. "Well, I hope you can explain that to Naoto when he gets here. He's the overprotective type," he said, having already told Suzaku about Naoto's "return" and Suzaku hadn't let on that he already knew.

Suzaku chuckled. "Believe me, I've dealt with overprotective elder brothers before, one of which is a borderline siscon," he said.

" _I can still hear you and I. AM. NOT. A. SISCON!_ " Lelouch's voice hissed quietly through the radio that Suzaku had tucked into his trenchcoat, turned down so that only he could hear it.

"Ah, one of _those_ kinds of brothers." Tamaki shivered. "I don't think I'd ever wanna meet someone like that."

Suddenly, there was an explosion nearby, sending plumes of smoke out of the west entrance and out of the smoke sped Kallen's one-armed red Glasgow. It skidded to a halt on top of the cargo hold that Suzaku was leaning against before jumping off. A moment later, the cockpit hatch opened and Kallen stood up, panting and wiping the sweat from her brow.

"You okay, Kallen?" Ohgi asked.

"Yeah, that was a tough fight. Thought I was a goner but that mysterious voice helped me out in the end," Kallen said.

"So he contacted you too?" Ohgi said.

"He contacted you?" Kallen asked.

"Not me. He contacted Lone Wolf who relayed his message to me and I relayed it to the others," Ohgi said.

Kallen glanced down at Suzaku and then at the rest of the group. "So what now?" she asked.

"We're waiting for Sugiyama's group to join us. Then...well, I'm not entirely sure actually," Ohgi admitted and turned to Suzaku. "Didn't you say that the voice who talked with you had a plan?"

"He does," Suzaku said with a nod. "He said he'll contact you directly after the rest of your group gets here."

"Right."

A moment later, Sugiyama's group appeared, meandering their way around the debris. Sugiyama was supporting Yoshida, who was limping, but, other than that, they all looked all right, even their newest addition.

The same new addition that caused Kallen to freeze in utter shock from where she was still standing in her cockpit seat.

Suzaku pushed himself off the cargo hold's wall and inclined his head. "It's good to see you up and about, Naoto," he said.

Naoto Kozuki smiled at him. "Would be better if I didn't have to rely on this," he said with a nod at the cane that he was leaning heavily against to avoid putting pressure on his injured leg.

There was the sound of feet hitting the ground and Suzaku didn't bother on turning, already knowing what it was. He was correct for, a moment later, Kallen was darting forward. " _Oni_ _i_ _-sama!_ " she screamed, tears streaming out of her bright blue eyes as she practically launched herself at her brother.

Naoto seemed to have been expecting that because he'd braced himself and managed to stay on his feet as his little sister latched onto him, burying her face into his shoulder as she cried. He smiled patiently down at her as he gently rubbed her back, not saying anything, just holding her in a comforting embrace as she sobbed.

"I...I thought...you were dead!" Kallen sobbed.

"I know," Naoto murmured softly as he continued to rub circles into her back. "Shh, _daijoubu_ , _imouto-chan, daijoubu._ "

Suzaku smiled at the reunion.

It wasn't long before Kallen pulled away, rubbing the tears out of her eyes. "I don't understand. What happened? Where have you been if you've been alive this entire time?" she asked.

"I'll explain everything later, Kallen," Naoto said, tone and face turning serious in a way that reminded Suzaku a little of Lelouch. He had this odd feeling that Lelouch and Naoto would get along rather well. "For now, we still have to find a way to help the civilians that haven't been killed yet."

Just then Ohgi's radio crackled.

 _Impeccable timing, Lelouch,_ Suzaku thought, though he knew that Lelouch had been listening in on that conversation through the radio Suzaku had hidden in his trenchcoat.

Ohgi pulled it out and activated it. "Um, yeah?" he said.

" _Are you the leader?_ " Lelouch's voice, lower than when he spoke to Suzaku, said.

"Um,"—Ohgi turned to look at Naoto who raised an eyebrow at him and gestured to the radio—"Y...yeah, yeah, I am."

" _Then I present you with what's inside these cargo holds. If you wish to win then follow my orders and you may use them,_ " Lelouch said calmly.

Ohgi blinked and turned to Naoto who gave him an irritated look. "Kaname, what did I already tell you? This is _your_ mission to command so command it," he said.

"I thought...never mind. Let's, at least, see what this voice gave us to use," Ohgi said.

Kallen darted over to the Glasgow and climbed into the cockpit. Once she was situated in the cockpit, she used her remaining hand to open one of the cargo hold's doors while Tamaki and Sugiyama teamed up to open the other one; the swift intake of utter shock came from everyone as they stared at the gleaming brand-new Sutherlands in front of them.

"Wow," Tamaki said.

"Just where the heck did this voice get all these?" Yoshida said, the bewilderment clear in his voice.

"I'd like to know the answer to that myself," Suzaku said since he didn't know the _whole_ story behind how Lelouch had gotten those knightmares; hell, he still didn't know how Lelouch had gotten all of Clovis's Royal Guard on his side and to follow his every order. Lelouch said that the story would have to wait so Suzaku resolved to ask him when this was all over if he had the chance.

" _Suzaku,_ " Lelouch's voice murmured through the private frequency they were using, " _I want you to aid in the fight. Pilot one of those Sutherlands if you know how. I need you to help your acquaintances distract Britannia long enough for me to get to Clovis's base. The massacre won't end even if you do turn the tide of the battle but I can force Clovis into ordering a ceasefire and that'll end everything._ "

Suzaku said nothing in response to Lelouch's words. Instead, he said, "I, personally, wouldn't mind using one of these. I haven't gotten behind a knightmare in three months." He shrugged and added, "And do we really have anything to lose by listening to this voice?"

"True, we don't," Ohgi admitted. "All right. We'll use them. It would give us an edge in this fight, might even help us win it or, at least, distract Britannia long enough for the remaining civilians to get to safety."

"I think that might be all we can do," Inoue said gravelly.

"All right, we'll listen," Ohgi said.

" _Good,_ " Lelouch said. " _In return, just as I promised your comrade in the Glasgow, I will grant you victory. For now, Women in the Glasgow?_ "

"Ah, yes?" Kallen said.

" _You will remain in that Glasgow. You will be running decoy. How's your energy status?_ " Lelouch asked.

"About fifteen minutes worth," Kallen replied.

" _Then recharge. I will contact all of you again in ten minutes with your next set of orders,_ " Lelouch said and went silent.

"Naoto, you should sit this out," Sugiyama said.

Naoto narrowed his eyes. "No way in hell am I letting Kallen run decoy. I don't give a damn what that voice says. I am not letting Kallen put herself in that much danger," he retorted.

"I can handle it, _onii-sama_ ," Kallen insisted from where she was connecting her knightmare to the energy supplier in the cargo hold to recharge. "It's not like this is gonna be the first time I've had to do this."

"That doesn't make me any more inclined to let you go," Naoto said.

" _Onii-sama_ ," Kallen groaned. "You know I can fight. I'm a good knightmare pilot. I'll be fine. You don't have to coddle me anymore."

It was clear that Naoto didn't like it, his jaw was clenched but, finally, he sighed. "That voice had better hope that you don't get hurt, _imouto-chan,_ " he said darkly.

Suzaku blinked since, once again, Naoto reminded him of Lelouch, except that Naoto could probably kick Lelouch's ass without breaking a sweat. However, they were both just as protective of their little sisters and just as likely to threaten, and carry through with their threats if necessary, anyone who dared harm them.

 _Yeah, if Kallen doesn't get hurt in this fight, I think Naoto and Lelouch_ _will_ _get along rather well,_ Suzaku thought.

 **. . .**

Lelouch twirled the black king chess piece in between his fingers, having found it along with the Sutherland that he'd gotten from that member of the Purist Faction after he'd given his set of orders to Clovis's Royal Guard. At the moment, Clovis's Royal Guard had returned to the G1 Base while the silver-haired woman he'd stolen the knightmare from was who knew where. Lelouch resolved to track her down to see the aftereffects of his Geass since that was something that he felt he should know, along with side-effects and time limits, if there were any. He needed to know the limitations, as he already thought about earlier, but he resolved to figure those out later.

For now, he had a battle to win.

He did have to wonder if Clovis had gotten better at chess since the last time they'd played.

He had already given his orders to the Glasgow pilot, Suzaku, and the rest of his rebel acquaintances and was now waiting to see his orders followed through, while also paying attention to just how Clovis moved his forces. So far, the rebels were making very good use of the Sutherlands they'd been given; they were driving the Britannians into corners in some places and destroying the enemy knightmares thoroughly in others.

The screen that Lelouch had in his stolen knightmare also helped because it gave him the positions of every single enemy unit, which helped him to coordinate his temporary allies' attacks.

An opportunity came up in the form of three blue triangle blips that indicated three enemy units—or allies in terms of the Sutherland he was using—were about to enter an area that N1, N2, P1, and P2 were in, albeit separated by a wall that was the only thing standing of a destroyed building. To ensure that no names were intercepted, Lelouch had given everyone a chess designation; the pilot of the Glasgow was Q1, the leader was N1, and so on.

Waiting until the enemy units were in position, Lelouch keyed on his radio. "N1, N2, P1, P2, fire your Slash Harkens at 3 o'clock," he said firmly.

" _What the…? Why the hell would we do that?_ " P1 exclaimed loudly.

Lelouch narrowed his eyes, mentally making sure to keep an eye on that one should he decide to ally himself with these rebels again in the future; the loudmouth seemed like someone who would question orders, which led to Lelouch thinking that he didn't understand that, in a battle, a leader's orders shouldn't be questioned because it could cost lives.

" _Do as he said,_ " N1 said firmly.

 _Now there's someone who_ _understands_ _that concept,_ Lelouch thought, making a note to keep an eye on the rebel designated N1 as well.

Just as he expected, when N1 and his group fired their Slash Harkens at the wall to the right of where they were positioned, the force was enough to cause the wall to topple to the right and crash directly into the knightmares that were on its other side, forcing enemy pilots to eject.

Lelouch grinned and turned back to the screen, issuing orders left and right to his current allies. As he watched the scene, he also paid attention to the pilot of the red Glasgow and to Suzaku, the latter of whom was piloting one of the new Sutherlands. The woman in the Glasgow was, no doubt, a very skilled pilot, an ace even, and Suzaku was proving himself to be just as much an ace as the woman. Though they fought on opposite ends of the battlefield, with Q1 drawing in the Britannian knightmares just as he told her to, they were clearing house very well.

 _Two Ace Knightmare Pilots? I definitely have to keep that in mind,_ Lelouch thought, still twirling the black king chess piece between his fingers as he issued a few more orders, watching as more and more of the enemy were destroyed.

"Well, Clovis, what will you do know?" he whispered, gazing at the screen as he waited to see just what his elder half brother would do know that the odds had been turned against him.

He was surprised when he saw that the encirclement around the G1 Base was breaking up.

He chuckled darkly. "Clovis, Clovis, you've made a fatal error," he murmured and, lifting the radio to his lips, added. "Q1, do you have a map of the area?"

" _Yeah, it's an old one though without all the landmarks,_ " the red-haired woman said.

"It'll do." Lelouch then gave her his next set of orders and watched as the woman followed through with them, fulfilling her role as decoy to draw the Britannians to the designated location that he'd told her about and then fleeing, with the rest of her companions that she'd run into, into the underground subway tunnel before turning back, underground, and firing her Slash Harkens at the ceiling of the tunnel.

Just as he had planned, the ground collapsed, sending a spray of debris, stone, and bits of metal flying in all directions as the knightmares were sent tumbling into each other. Some pilots were lucky enough to eject before they were buried but others had not been so lucky.

Lelouch laughed as he realized that his plan had worked. He had successfully managed to keep the tides of the battle in his favor and had created an opening that would allow him to end the fight just as he had planned. "I can do it," he whispered, "I can actually do it! I can beat Britannia."

 **. . .**

Shintaro was skimming through the _Lancelot'_ s manual when an excited exclamation caused him to start and throw the manual that Croomy had been kind enough to grab for him into the air. Blushing in embarrassment, despite the fact that no one had seen him since he was still in the cockpit of the knightmare, Shintaro picked up the manual from where it'd landed open and facedown on the console. He closed it and dropped it off to the side as Lloyd's happy voice sounded.

" _Get ready, Private Ihara! Prince Clovis has just given us the all clear. My baby's gonna be fighting! Prepare to launch!_ " Lloyd exclaimed happily.

Shintaro smiled a little and picked up the white-and-gold activation key and inserting it before turning it on. Immediately, all the instruments began to glow; the panel off to the side glowed red, prompting Shintaro to enter the activation code that Croomy had given him. He did so and the light turned green.

He gripped the controls of the _Lancelot_ and took a deep breath. _This is it. Don't screw it up, Shin,_ he told himself as he quickly checked that all of the instruments were working properly and there were no warning signals or nothing was off that wasn't supposed to be. Everything was green and so he shifted the _Lancelot_ into launching position, landspinners landing on the ground behind him.

"ME Boost," he whispered to activate the boost that he would need to successfully launch the knightmare.

" _Lancelot, launch!_ " Croomy shouted.

Shintaro didn't need further prompting as he thrust the controls of the knightmare forward. It shot forward so smoothly that Shintaro forgot for a moment that he was in the cockpit of a giant mecha until they started going over debris. That was a bit rough but not nearly as much as he thought it would be but, then, he's never piloted a knightmare that wasn't in a simulation so he supposed that this could be the way it was for all knightmare pilots.

He forced himself to focus on the matter at hand as he sped rapidly forward. Major Croomy's face appeared on the screen to the right of him. " _You are ordered to_ _reinforce the soldiers and_ _engage the terrorists, Private Ihara, and_ _aid in defeatin_ _g_ _them,_ " she said firmly.

" _Oh and don't get a scratch on my precious_ Lancelot _too,_ " Lloyd said, his face appearing in front of Croomy's until she elbowed him sharply in the side, causing him to wince and back off, clutching at his side.

" _And, just a reminder, the_ Lancelot _is not outfitted with an ejection mechanism,_ " Croomy added.

"I understand, my Lord," Shintaro said as he fired his Slash Harkens at a nearby building and whipped around a building so swiftly that he probably would have crashed into the building across from the one he'd connected his Slash Harken too had he not pulled back at the last instant. He steadied himself, narrowing his eyes. _Okay, so it's a bit more sensitive to movement than I thought it was,_ he thought as he retracted his Slash Harken and shot down the street.

He spotted the enemies nearby, able to see that it wasn't an ally because it wasn't appearing on the screen depicting his allies' positions. He immediately launched himself at it, Slash Harkens firing at the first stolen Sutherland rapidly, sinking into the factsphere before they both were quickly retracted. Within an instant, they were being fired back at the other Sutherland, sinking into its chest and forcing it backward. Shintaro, retracting both Slash Harkens again, shot forward and rammed the _Lancelot_ directly into the first knightmare, causing it to skid right into a ruined building, before spinning around and firing his Slash Harkens at the damaged second knightmare, pushing it directly into the knightmare he could see coming up behind it.

He jumped back and fired his Slash Harkens into the window of a building and, using it as a grappling hook, swung over the defeated knightmare frames to land on the street beyond them. He overshot a bit and crashed into an empty, collapsed building instead, causing the remaining walls to fall backwards into the streets.

He winced. _Whoops,_ he thought.

" _Didn't I say not to get any scratches on my baby?_ "Lloyd whined.

"Sorry, my lord," Shintaro said with a sheepish smile as he shot away from the building.

" _Despite some minor mishaps_ " Croomy began—" _Crashing into a building, in ruins notwithstanding, is_ not _minor_ ," Lloyd shouted in the background—" _You're doing very well._ "

"Thank you, my lord," Shintaro said as he shot down the street, looking for another enemy only to quickly jump back to avoid a Slash Harken that had just come flying at him out of nowhere.

He whirled around to see a Sutherland on the roof of a one story building nearby, jousting lance in one hand as it retracted its Slash Harkens. He licked his lips as he studied his new enemy and he shot forward, firing his Slash Harkens at the enemy as he jerked the controls up so that he could jump onto the same building as the enemy.

The enemy dodged swiftly out of the way, jumping onto the roof of a neighboring building— _I didn't even know Sutherlands could maneuver like that,_ Shintaro thought in amazement but then reminded himself that maneuvering was something that was not determined by the knightmare but by the pilot. That was something that he'd learned during basic training when one of the very few Britannians who didn't look down on him told him that—and pushed that thought out of his mind.

He fired his Slash Harkens at the enemy again but the Sutherland danced out of the way, jumping back to the ground and Shintaro followed suit, only to quickly jerk the controls to guide the _Lancelot_ swiftly out of the way to avoid the two Slash Harkens that flew at him, crisscrossing in midair as they flew. He managed to dodge both of them, though one did nick his arm, much to Lloyd's chagrin.

The Sutherland shot forward, intent on ramming its jousting lance through the _Lancelot_ but Shintaro fired his Slash Harkens at a balcony of a nearby building and jumped into the air to land on the enemy Sutherland and use it as a jumping board to bring himself higher into the air. In midair, he twisted around, retracted his Slash Harkens, and fired both of them down at the enemy Sutherland.

The enemy Sutherland spun around and fired its own Slash Harkens back at the _Lancelot_ ; they crashed into each other and were diverted in opposite directions, Shintaro's went through a window while the enemy's got entangled in a nearby balcony.

Retracting his Slash Harkens as he landed on the street, Shintaro decided to take advantage of the enemy's current predicament, stuck as he attempted to disentangle his Slash Harken. He charged forward, intent on ramming him as he had the others earlier.

The enemy yanked its Slash Harken free, taking the whole balcony with him, and Shintaro had to quickly stop his forward charge to avoid getting hit by the railing and stone that were flying in his direction.

That brief distraction also gave the enemy the chance to attack and Shintaro yelped in surprise as the Sutherland, with a swift jump and spin in midair, landed a landspinner into the _Lancelot'_ s face, throwing it backwards. Shintaro had no idea how he managed to stay upright after that collision but he was thankful he had.

 _Damn, this guy's good and that kick kinda reminded me of someone. Nah, it can't be him,_ Shintaro thought as he prepared to launch his Slash Harkens back at the enemy.

 **. . .**

Suzaku sneezed as he studied the enemy in front of him, jousting lance in one hand and preparing to fire his Slash Harkens. He blinked, wondering just who was talking or thinking about him but pushed the thought out of his mind as he swiftly dodged out of the way of the Slash Harkens the white-and-gold knightmare frame launched at him.

" _How are you doing, Lone Wolf?_ " Ohgi asked worriedly. " _You've been fighting that new knightmare frame for a while now._ "

"It's pretty strong but we're on pretty equal standing at the moment," Suzaku said. "How are things on your end?" He fired his own Slash Harkens back at the enemy and it dodged out of the way a bit awkwardly before firing his own back at Suzaku.

" _Good so far,_ " Ohgi said. " _We have the enemy distracted and the voice's orders are really turning the tide in our favor. Do you know who this guy is?_ "

Suzaku thought about whether to tell Ohgi or not but decided that if Lelouch wanted them to know about him then he'd tell them himself. "No, I don't know," he said as he danced to the side to avoid the Slash Harkens of the white-and-gold knightmare in front of him. "But this was a good strategy on his part."

" _Yeah. I can't believe we're actually managing to keep Britannia back, even with the inclusion of that new knightmare frame that took out B Squad,_ " Ohgi said.

Suzaku nodded in agreement, despite knowing that Ohgi couldn't see it, and jumped backwards to avoid the Slash Harkens of the enemy. He then danced to the side when the enemy attempted to ram into him, thrusting the jousting lance toward the enemy's unprotected side as he did so. The white-and-gold knightmare frame managed to avoid getting pierced by the lance but it still scratched the knightmare.

The white-and-gold knightmare whirled around to face Suzaku who moved to the center of the street. They remained across from each other, slowly edging in opposite directions as if attempting to find an opening to exploit.

 _He's a good pilot, despite the few mishaps he's had,_ Suzaku thought just as his radio crackled to life again; Ohgi had fallen silent a few minutes earlier.

" _Suzaku, are you there?_ " Lelouch's voice asked.

"I'm here," Suzaku said.

" _Good. How are you holding up?_ "

"Well enough. My opponent's pretty good and his knightmare is more advanced than mine but we seem to be on equal ground at the moment. We're both trying to find an opening right now. Why?" Suzaku asked.

" _I've just reached the G1 Base and should be able to end this soon. We should meet up somewhere after this whole mess is over since I know you still want answers to your questions. I thought we could discuss that real quick right now since I'm going to be unable to reach you once I leave the Sutherland I'm in,_ " Lelouch said.

Suzaku blinked and thought about it, going over the various places he knew within the Shinjuku Ghetto. "There's an abandoned house at the edge of the ghetto about half a mile west of the station where we separated earlier. We can meet there," he said and briefly gave his best friend instructions to reach the house while keeping an eye on the enemy knightmare in front of him. The pilot was still edging around, clearly still trying to find an opening but Suzaku matched his movements perfectly, trying not to leave an opening for his enemy to exploit.

" _All right. I will meet you there in about half an hour. My talk with Clovis shouldn't take too long,_ " Lelouch said and went silent.

Suzaku, wondering just what Lelouch was going to talk with Clovis about other than convincing him to issue the ceasefire, shifted his Sutherland further away from the enemy. They were still across from each other but their positions had shifted to where they were each in front of a building rather than the open street.

The enemy knightmare shot forward first and danced to the right and Suzaku immediately followed its movements, firing his Slash Harkens directly in front of him as he did so, purposely shooting too far right, which worked out well since the white-and-gold knightmare ended up overshooting and gliding right into the path of Suzaku's Slash Harkens. He'd expected that after seeing how the enemy had overshot that jump earlier. He may not be as good at predicting an opponent's moves, like Lelouch, but he wasn't bad at that either; he'd seen the enemy overshoot before and figured it could happen again. The Slash Harkens sank into the knightmare's shoulders but not enough to lodge into them and the knightmare was quick to move backwards to dislodge them before they could cause more damage.

Just then, a message could be heard throughout the entire ghetto and Suzaku lifted his head to listen to it, recognizing Prince Clovis's voice.

" _Attention, all forces! Cease fire at once?_ " Clovis said. " _I, Clovis, third prince of Britannia and royal viceroy of Area Eleven, hereby command you; all forces are ordered to cease fire at once. You are also to cease destruction of any buildings or property. All casualties, whether Britannian or Eleven, shall be treated equally and without prejudice. In the name of Clovis la Britannia, you are hereby ordered; cease fire at once. I shall allow no further fighting._ "

Suzaku blinked, wondering just what Lelouch did to convince Clovis to issue a ceasefire but resolved to ask when he spoke to him next.

The white-and-gold knightmare frame jerked back, turned around, and immediately headed back for the base. Suzaku let him go, connecting to the rest of the Kozuki Resistance. "How's everything with you?" he asked.

" _We're okay,_ " Naoto's voice said. " _Everyone but you had to eject and we rendezvoused in a warehouse with the rest of the survivors while you were fighting that new knightmare. Britannia tracked us down but Clovis's ceasefire came just in the nick of time._ "

"That's good," Suzaku said as he guided his Sutherland toward the edge of the ghetto. "I'll be heading out then. Best of luck to all of you."

" _You know that you are_ _still_ _welcomed to join us, Lone Wolf,_ " Naoto pointed out.

Suzaku smiled faintly. "I prefer working alone," he said.

" _Is it you prefer working alone or you just haven't found the right resistance to join?_ "

That had been one question that Naoto had asked Suzaku soon after finding out the truth about Suzaku's identity three months earlier. Though he understood why Suzaku kept his face hidden, he had suggested that Suzaku didn't really want to work alone, he just hadn't found the right resistance to work with and had asked him if he was right. At the time, Suzaku didn't answer him and just said his goodbyes before leaving.

This time, however, Suzaku decided he may as well answer.

Because, while he hadn't wanted to admit it three months ago, Naoto was right.

"I haven't found the right resistance, one with a leader that I can trust. I don't mean to offend you, Naoto, but...my trust is hard to earn," Suzaku said and it was the truth. After losing all of his family, and nearly losing Kaguya—he had been relieved to find out that Kaguya had survived—and then watching his country get torn apart and being nearly killed by his own people because he refused to let them kill Lelouch and Nunnally, he had turned rather cynical and unable to trust virtually anyone. Lelouch, Shintaro, Nunnally, Tohdoh, and Kaguya were probably the only ones in the world that Suzaku did trust and that was only because of the bonds he had with them from before the invasion.

" _I can understand that, Lone Wolf,_ " Naoto said. " _But, nonetheless, I do thank you for helping me out and for helping out my resistance here today. If you want to help us again someday, you know how to contact me. I'd advise not doing so anytime soon 'cause Kallen looks like she wants to hit something._ "

Suzaku sweatdropped worriedly as he prepared to power down the Sutherland once he entered an abandoned warehouse at the edge of the ghetto, a few miles north of the house where he was going to meet up with Lelouch. "Did you tell her that I knew all along about you?" he asked.

" _What?!_ " Kallen's voice exclaimed in the background.

" _No._ _She was upset about something else. And yo_ _u just did,_ " Naoto said. " _I was planning on telling her later but too late for that now._ "

" _Lone Wolf knew that you were alive this entire time and he didn't tell us?_ " Ohgi asked in shock and there was a small hint of betrayal in his voice.

Suzaku winced.

" _Don't blame Lone Wolf for this, Kaname,_ " Naoto reassured his companion. " _I understood his reasoning and I agreed with it. I'll explain everything later, once we get to a more secure location. I thank you again, Lone Wolf. Keep in touch._ "

"I'll do my best," Suzaku said and powered down the radio. He tossed it away as he powered down the knightmare and opened up the cockpit hatch. Climbing out of the Sutherland, he jumped to the ground, drawing the hood of his trenchcoat over his head and quickly darted out of the warehouse and into the shadows of the surrounding buildings.

 **. . .**

Lelouch made his way into the abandoned building, his hands stuffed into the pockets of the uniform that he'd stolen earlier, his mind on his conversation with his half-brother Clovis. Clovis had been in shock to discover that Lelouch was alive and, more than that, even had the gall to suggest that they all return to Pendragon together, seeming to have forgotten why Lelouch and Nunnally were in Area 11 to begin with. Nonetheless, when Lelouch had used his Geass on Clovis to find answers to his questions about his mother's assassination—who better to ask than a member of the Royal Family, especially when Lelouch was positive that his family or the nobility were behind it—he discovered that Clovis didn't have anything to do with his mother's death.

However, Cornelia and Schneizel did.

That had been a surprise. Cornelia and Schneizel were two of the few half-siblings that Lelouch truly cared about and to find out that they had something to do with his mother's assassination was a bitter pill to swallow.

Nonetheless, he'd also asked questions about the odd girl who'd given him Geass since he figured that if Clovis would kill a bunch of innocents just to keep that girl a secret then he had to know why she was important. Lelouch had to know if Clovis knew about the girl's Geass-giving power and had found out more than he wanted to know; the girl was immortal and Clovis had been performing _experiments_ on her, on a _human._ And that if anyone found out about her then Clovis would be disinherited.

After he had released Clovis from his Geass, Lelouch knew that he couldn't just let Clovis get away with the atrocity that he'd committed in the Shinjuku Ghetto, all those innocent lives lost and to hide the existence of a single girl, nor could he condone those experiments. He may not know the green-haired girl but not only did she give her life for him but she also gave him the power that gave him a chance against Britannia.

And experiments on humans was just plain wrong.

Lelouch may have a bit of a skewed moral compass but even he could not condone something like that.

So he'd delivered justice against his half-brother the only way that he could, since he knew that Britannia would just let him off with a slap on the wrist if they did anything at all.

After all, the innocents that Clovis killed were "just Elevens".

But Lelouch was not like that. He didn't believe that the people who died deserved to die just to keep that girl a secret, just to keep Clovis from getting disinherited. That was something Britannia would believe, since the victims weren't full-blooded Britannians, but Lelouch refused to be like that. That was one of the reasons why he hated his birth country.

He paused as he entered the abandoned house and leaned against the wall next to the main door, closing his eyes and taking a few deep breaths to calm the sudden surge of nausea. He pushed it aside, reminding himself of what he had told Clovis right before pulling the trigger; if he wanted to change the world, he knew he would have to get his hands dirty, he would have to stain them with blood.

Pushing away from the wall, Lelouch wandered over to the living room, taking a seat in the armchair as he waited for his best friend to join him. He didn't know where his best friend had ended up but figured that he was attempting to avoid getting caught by the enemy.

It wasn't clear how much time had gone by before the door opened, allowing in a few steaks of sunlight to chase away the shadows, and the black-shrouded form of Suzaku entered the room. He closed the door behind him and lowered the hood of his trenchcoat as he crossed the floor to join Lelouch in the living room.

"Suzaku," Lelouch greeted him as Suzaku sat down on the couch across from him.

"Lelouch," Suzaku said, watching him with calm, haunted eyes. "I've got a number of questions to ask you."

"I'll answer what I can but I don't want to spend too long here. I've been gone longer than I was supposed to and Nunnally'll be worried. Granted, I think she'll get over it when we get back to the clubhouse," Lelouch said. From the moment that he'd run into his old friend, he knew that he was not going to let Suzaku be on his own again, especially not with Britannia likely to start cracking down on terrorists when news of what happened to Clovis got out.

Suzaku nodded and then frowned. "Wait? 'We'?" he echoed.

"Nunnally will want to see you," Lelouch said with a shrug.

"You want me to go into the heart of the Tokyo Settlement? Are you crazy?" Suzaku said.

"Do I really need to answer that question?"

Suzaku ran a hand over his face in exasperation. "What makes you think I can even do that? And, while I do want to see Nunnally again, it's far too dangerous, for both of us," he said.

"We can discuss that later," Lelouch said finally. "For now, ask your questions and I'll do my best to answer them as I already said."

Suzaku frowned at him but finally nodded. "How were you able to get the Royal Guard, and that Britannian soldier, to do as you ordered?" he said finally. "Even using your real name, you couldn't command such loyalty."

Lelouch smiled a little. "You won't believe me but I'll try to explain," he said and went on to explain what happened between him and the green-haired woman in that odd place and the power that she granted him. When he was done, Suzaku was staring at him in shock and disbelief.

"Your story doesn't make any sense and yet I know you well enough to know that you wouldn't make something like that up, and I doubt the last seven years has changed that, so I'll just suspend my disbelief for now," he said finally. "So you used this mind-control power of yours on Clovis's Royal Guard and on that soldier. Whatever happened to them?"

"I don't know about the soldier but I ordered the Royal Guard to be released from my control, and remember nothing of what happened while they were under my control, the instant that Clovis's body was found," Lelouch said.

"Clovis's _body?_ Lelouch, what did you do?!" Suzaku exclaimed.

Lelouch turned his gaze to the broken window of the building. "What I had to," he said simply. "Clovis would have never been served the justice that he deserved for the atrocity he committed here so I delivered my own justice to him."

 **. . .**

Suzaku was silent for a long moment, taking in the revelation that Lelouch had just revealed. Perhaps he should be outraged at what his best friend did but he couldn't find it in himself to feel that way. He just couldn't. He hated Britannia and he knew that people would die in the quest to liberate Japan and Clovis was, by no means, innocent. He supposed he would have been outraged had Clovis been innocent but he wasn't so Suzaku found that he didn't really care.

Seven years of witnessing the crimes committed by Britannia to the Japanese people, watching families get torn apart as his own had been, siblings lose siblings as he had nearly lost his cousin, friends losing friends as he nearly had with Shin, Lelouch, and Nunnally while they were traveling across the war-torn Japan. Seven years of witnessing that either with the JLF or on his own, his hatred for those responsible, and _only_ those responsible, had only increased.

It wasn't Clovis's death that Suzaku really cared about.

It was the fallout, the consequences, because he knew that there would be consequences.

"Are you prepared to deal with the consequences, Lelouch?" he asked finally.

"I knew the moment I pulled the trigger that there would be consequences, Suzaku. By pulling the trigger, I've set myself on the path that I had been planning on setting out on years ago, the day we separated in the waning days of the invasion."

"Destroying Britannia," Suzaku said quietly.

"Yes," Lelouch said with a nod. "I've been giving the opportunity and I am going to take advantage of it. I will fight against and destroy Britannia and create a better world for Nunnally to live in and I want you to help me do that."

Suzaku started, lips pulling into a frown as he studied his friend but Lelouch was wearing a look that told him that he wasn't kidding. He really intended to fight against his birth country and he wanted Suzaku to help him do it?

Suzaku was already doing that in his own why and was about to tell that to Lelouch, tell him that he worked alone but the words faltered on his lips as he gazed at his best friend, at one of the few people in the world that he truly trusted.

His words to Naoto came back into his mind: _I_ _haven't found the right resistance, one with a leader that I can trust…_

But he trusted Lelouch.

There was no denying that Lelouch was a natural, charismatic leader and a brilliant strategist and tactician, two traits that made him a very powerful ally to have. He may not have much stamina and he may not be quite as strong as Suzaku was but he made up for that with his intelligence.

The more he thought about it, the more Suzaku realized that if Lelouch was really planning on fighting back against Britannia then he might actually stand a chance at winning.

And Suzaku trusted him.

Yes, there were cons to the offer, one of the most prominent being Lelouch's true identity. If that was ever discovered then it would be disastrous for Lelouch, even more so if the Royal Family and the Emperor find out that he's fighting against his own country. While Suzaku was sure that Lelouch could keep his true identity a secret from those who would use it against him, he still felt uneasy about it.

There was also Nunnally. Suzaku knew that Lelouch would do anything for his little sister and wouldn't dream of putting her in danger; he'd sooner tear off his own arm than put his little sister in danger. And, yet, if he planned on truly fighting back against Britannia, he ran the risk of doing just that.

However, Suzaku also knew that Lelouch had likely taken all of that into consideration, he wasn't stupid enough to think that Lelouch hadn't. The exiled prince wasn't a genius tactician and strategist for nothing; he was always one to think his plans through as thoroughly as he possibly could.

"We have worked together before, Suzaku," Lelouch went on as Suzaku continued to turn over the pros and cons of Lelouch's offer. "We proved during the invasion that we can do anything together so let's prove that to be true again." He stood up and walked over to stand in front of Suzaku as the latter stood up as well. He held out a hand and added, "Work with me to create a better world for Nunnally if nothing else. If we work together, I know that we can do it; we can fight against and destroy Britannia. It will not be easy, I am not deluded enough to think that it would be, but it can be done and we can be the ones to do it. Working together, as equals, we can do it. I believe that we can."

Suzaku smiled at his best friend's words. He always did have a way with words. He stretched out a hand and took Lelouch's in his own. "Then let's make it happen," he said with a grin.

Lelouch smiled back, a genuine smile that he reserved for only a few select people but Suzaku saw a brief gleam of relief in his eyes. He didn't say anything though, just inclined his head as he released Suzaku's hand. "Let's head back to the settlement, Suzaku," he said.

"Wait, you said that we'd discuss that later," Suzaku said with a frown since he hadn't agreed to go back into the settlement. He wasn't about to mingle with Britannians and he didn't want to pose a danger to Lelouch either.

"And we are," Lelouch said. "If we're going to be working together then I would rather not have to search the entire ghetto to find you when we need to speak. Besides, what better place to hide than in plain sight, Lone Wolf."

Suzaku blinked.

Lelouch chuckled. "I heard you being called that by your acquaintances and figured that was your alias since they obviously don't know your true identity," he said.

"Not all of them," Suzaku admitted since Naoto was the only one who knew his true identity. He paused for a moment to think about Lelouch's words, about hiding in plain sight. While he was sure that he would draw attention to himself, it wouldn't be because of his work with the resistances, it would be because of his heritage.

"Are you sure about this though, Lelouch?" he asked finally. "You know that Britannians don't look favorably upon Japanese and that's gonna draw unneeded attention to us if we're seen together."

"Don't worry about that, Suzaku. Let's go."

"I never had a say in this to begin with, did I?"

Lelouch just smirked.

Suzaku sighed. "You're as bossy as you were when we were at the Kururugi Shrine," he huffed.

"I was not bossy. Kaguya was worse." Lelouch paused for a moment as if realizing what he'd just said, then added, "I'm sorry..."

"Don't be," Suzaku assured him. "Kaguya's alive. Tohdoh managed to get her out of the Shrine and to a doctor just in time."

Lelouch let out a short breath and smiled. "That's good. Annoying though she was, she was really nice to Nunnally and I know you cared for her a lot," he said. "But we've lingered too long. Let's head back."

"Still think this is a bad idea," Suzaku muttered but he knew that Lelouch was stubborn, more stubborn than he was though Lelouch still denied that fact. "All right, fine. But don't blame me if this blows up in your face."

 _And I can only hope that if this blows up in Lelouch's face, it won't have severe repercussions,_ he thought.

"It'll be fine, Suzaku. I'll handle everything," Lelouch reassured him. "You know I never do anything without a reason or a plan so don't worry so much."

That was true. Lelouch never did anything unless there was a reason behind it and he had a plan, and a few backup plans for the plan.

That eased a little of Suzaku's worries but not all of them.

 **. . .**

Nunnally Lamperouge felt her fingers along the creases of the piece of origami that her maid Sayoko had just handed her. "I feel wings. Is it some kind of bird?" she asked, tilting her head to the side in puzzlement.

"It is, Mistress Nunnally. It's a crane," Sayoko said and Nunnally heard her pick up another piece of paper. "Do you want to hear a story about the origami crane?"

"Sure," Nunnally said, putting the crane down and turning to face the maid, smiling.

"All right. Once upon a time, in a land far away, there lived a farmer, his wife, and his two young children. The farmer was a good, kind man who worked for a living harvesting crops from his fields and selling them at a local market. He made a decent profit, enough to support himself and his family. However, one day, a harsh winter caused all of his crops to die out and made him unable to grow any crops when spring came. This caused him to fall into a deep despair as he realized that he didn't have enough money to support his family."

"Then, one day, a storm struck and an old woman came to the house seeking shelter. 'I have sought shelter from many others and have been turned away. Please, kind sir, let me stay the night. I have nothing to pay you for it however,' the woman pleaded. The farmer was a compassionate man and, though he and his family had fallen on hard times because of the harsh winter, he agreed to let her stay the night and even gave her a little bit of food to eat."

"'This is all that we have, I am afraid,' the farmer apologized but the woman assured him that it was plenty. So she stayed the night. The following morning, she took her leave; however, before she did, she told the farmer that, as payment for letting her stay the night, she will tell him a little secret."

"'You have fallen on hard times but I am sure it will come to an end. As a reward for your generosity, despite those hard times, I will tell you this: make one thousand origami cranes and you will be granted one wish. I know that you will make the right choice for your wish, good sir. Good day.' Having said what she wanted to say, the old woman left."

"The farmer didn't know whether to believe the old woman's words but he was desperate to find some way to make the money needed to support his family so he got to work making origami cranes. He worked, and worked, and worked for days, for weeks, only pausing to eat what little food he and his family still had left. He gave up some of his shares of the remaining food to his wife and children and focused mostly on making one thousand origami cranes. Finally, at long last, he finished the last one and voiced his wish."

"'I wish for crops and food that I can sell to gain money for my family so that they will not starve and so that I can be able to help others just like I helped that old woman,' was his request. He then put down the final crane and went to bed."

"The following morning, he was woken up by an excited shout from his eldest child, telling him to go outside and see the miracle that had been brought forth over night. Confused, the farmer did as he was told and was amazed by the stretch of crops that stretched as far as the eye could see. All of the crops were ripe and healthy, ready to be picked, and there was more than enough to sell and to keep for himself and his family."

"Overjoyed that his wish had been granted, the farmer, his wife, and his children set about harvesting the crops and selling them on the market. They made much money and, just as he had said in his wish, the farmer helped anyone who sought shelter or a bite of food at his farm. And so he and his family lived the rest of their lives in peace and happiness. The end."

Nunnally beamed. "I'm so happy that nothing bad happened to the farmer and his family and that farmer is so nice to help others out," she said. She reached for the crane again, remembering where she had put it down though she couldn't see it, and picked it up. "So if you make a thousand origami cranes, your wish will come true?"

"That's what that story says, yes," Sayoko said.

Nunnally beamed, turning the crane over in her hands. "Can you teach me how to fold an origami crane?" she asked.

"Very well, Mistress Nunnally," Sayoko said.

They were working on that, Sayoko patiently teaching Nunnally how to fold and feel where the folds were supposed to go, when the door opened up.

"Welcome home, Master Lelouch," Sayoko said.

"Big Brother!" Nunnally said happily, turning to where she assumed her brother was standing. She heard a chuckle and, a moment later, she felt her big brother's arms encircle her shoulders. She snuggled close to him briefly before he pulled back.

"What're you doing, Nunnally?" Lelouch asked.

"Sayoko's teaching me how to fold origami cranes," Nunnally said. "She told me a story. Did you know that there's an old tale that says that if you make one thousand origami cranes, your wish will come true?"

"And what is your wish?" Lelouch asked curiously.

Nunnally smiled as she turned around the origami crane she had just finished. "I'd wish for a peaceful, gentler world," she said finally.

"That's a wonderful wish, Little Sister," Lelouch said. "And, while this is not going to be that, I have a surprise for you."

"For me? What kind of surprise?" Nunnally asked, tilting her head to the side in curiosity.

Lelouch chuckled and, a moment later, Nunnally heard someone approach before a hand gently took hers in it. She gasped because she recognized the hand in an instant. Ever since she'd lost her eye sight almost eight years earlier, she'd learned to rely on touch quite a bit and could always tell the differences between which hand was holding hers. Her big brother's hands were soft and his fingers were long and slender. The hand she was holding now was smooth but rougher than her big brothers and yet there were some distinctions that allowed her to figure out quickly just who's hand she was holding.

"S...Suzaku?" she stammered out in surprise.

"Yes, it's me, Nunnally. It's been a long time," Suzaku's familiar voice said.

"Oh, it's been far too long, Suzaku. I'm so glad that you're all right," Nunnally gasped, releasing Suzaku's hand and reaching out her arms. She felt his arms curl around her and immediately hugged him back, relief flooding through her, replacing the surprise. She hadn't thought that she'd ever see Suzaku again after they'd, along with Shintaro, separated in the last week of the invasion of Area 11 seven years earlier. She'd worried about him but she was so relieved to find out that he was all right.

"This is a great surprise, Lelouch," Nunnally said happily as Suzaku released her. "But what about Shin? Is he okay?"

There was a moment of silence. "I haven't spoken to him in years but I'm sure he's all right, Nunnally," Suzaku said reassuringly.

"Oh I hope so. It would be great to speak with him again too," Nunnally said.

"I'm sure you will," Lelouch said calmly. "Also, Suzaku will be staying here for now on. I've talked with Milly and she's going to pull a few strings with the principal to allow him to attend Ashford Academy."

"That's great news! Then we won't get separated again," Nunnally said with a beaming smile. She paused for a moment as her stomach growled and giggled. "Oh, are we close to dinnertime? I didn't even notice."

"Should I make dinner for the three of you, Master Lelouch?" Sayoko asked.

"No, don't worry about it, Sayoko. I'll handle it," Lelouch said.

"You can cook?" Suzaku echoed. "Because I'm pretty sure Father banned both of us from the kitchen the last time you tried cooking there."

"That was your fault and you know it. I, certainly, wasn't the one who nearly caught the microwave on fire."

"That wasn't my fault. I didn't know you weren't supposed to put foil in the microwave."

" _Everyone_ knew that, moron."

"Real original, no stamina prince."

"Now who's unoriginal, exercise nut."

Nunnally laughed as Lelouch and Suzaku continued to bicker back and forth. It felt like the good times she had at the Kururugi Shrine. They were just missing Shintaro but Nunnally mused that Shintaro would've just been laughing his head off and occasionally chiming in with his own jab at either Suzaku or Lelouch. She smiled sadly, hoping that Shintaro was okay but she was happy that, at least, she'd been reunited with one of the two friends she and her brother had made at the Kururugi Shrine.

 **. . .**

 _Next Time: The Purist Faction's Scapegoat_

 **. . .**

 **A/n what do you think?**

 **Blaze: and there you have it. Shinjuku has come to a close. Suzaku and Lelouch have joined forces. And we get to read the story about the origami cranes (and I completely made that story up by the way)**

 **Lelouch: an interesting chapter**

 **Suzaku: what will happen next?**

 **Blaze: the title of the next chapter gives it away but a lot more than just that happens, especially since next chapter is the unofficial introduction of the _he_ that was mentioned in the last chapter**

 **Suzaku: interesting**

 **Blaze: I will leave it up to the reviewers if they want to try and guess who the _he_ is. I won't tell you if you're right or wrong but I may tell you if you're close to being right if you'd like to try and guess**

 **Lelouch: (hums) I have an idea**

 **Blaze: I wouldn't be surprised if you figured it out. Anyway...by the way, where's Kallen?**

 **Lelouch: I believe she and Naoto are attempting to stop Bakura from blowing up the Viceroy's Palace again**

 **Blaze: good luck**

 **Lelouch: that's what I told them**

 **Blaze: anyway, I hope that you guys enjoyed this chapter and reviews, as always, are much appreciated. Thank you for reading.**


	4. The Purist Faction's Scapegoat

**I know! I know! I said I would try to post this chapter the day after I updated _Rise of the Black King_ but the keyword there is _try._ I got busy at work—boy did I get busy at work—and have only found the time to update today.**

 **Anyway, I know some of you won't be too thrilled with how similar to canon this chapter is but it's necessary for some things to remain only slightly altered. Believe me when I say that the plot turns more complicated and distances itself a bit from canon as the story progresses. Just be patient. Things may seem similar to canon but they are necessary.**

 **Bakura: you're rambling, Shut up, foolish moron**

 **Shut up Bakura and thank the reviewers.**

 **Bakura: no, Suzaku, you do it**

 **Suzaku: (sigh) fine. Blaze would like to thank _demedichi, Mr. Q, davycrockett100, OBSERVER01, theweird1234, Doommajor, Dadycoool, Shadow-Shinobi666, DarthMaine, DYnoJackal19,_ and _OmegaChrome_ for reviewing the last chapter. You guys are awesome.**

 **Kallen: here is chapter 4 and Blaze hopes that you enjoy it. Reviews, as always, are much appreciated.**

 **4**

 **The Purist Faction's Scapegoat**

Kallen Kozuki brushed her short red hair, gazing at her reflection in the mirror as her thoughts drifted, mostly going to the battle in the Shinjuku Ghetto the day before as well as the news that her brother had survived the last three months and had been in hiding. And that Lone Wolf had known about it all along.

While Kallen was still pretty upset about that, after Naoto had explained everything to her and the rest of his resistance, she understood why he'd kept it a secret. Naoto was always one to put her safety above his own and she could understand why he didn't want anyone to know that he was still alive. It would pose too great a risk, especially in the first couple of weeks when Britannia was still trying to track him down. She still didn't understand why Lone Wolf hadn't told them after the manhunt had ended but resolved to ask the next time she came into contact with the mysterious resistance fighter.

But now she was back in the Tokyo Settlement and she hated it. She was only there because Naoto had insisted on it, saying that it would be better if everyone laid low for the time being and Kallen would be safer in the settlement. She'd argued but Ohgi and the rest of her friends, even Tamaki, had agreed with Naoto, which they had a tendency of doing when it came to her safety. It was only because she was the youngest member of the Kozuki Resistance but she didn't really like it; she hated being coddled.

And she hated being back at the Stadtfeld Manor too. She usually pretended to be a sickly, frail girl while she was staying at her bitch of a stepmother's house and only a few times did she slip up on that facade; her bitch of a stepmother didn't really care that she did that if she even noticed. She didn't care about anything other than the family name and, as long as Kallen didn't do anything obvious to tarnish the family name, her bitch of a stepmother would just ignore her.

However, being back at the Stadtfeld Manor, back in the settlement itself, meant another thing as well.

She had to return to school.

She didn't hate school but she didn't particularly like it. She hated the Britannians who looked down on anyone who wasn't full-blooded Britannian but school itself wasn't that bad. She'd missed most of the school year, having her maids turn in her assignments while staying at home because of her supposed medical condition, but she was still at the top of her year but she still had to attend. There was only so much that her family name and her fake medical condition could get her out of but, at least, she could use the school as a cover.

That was really the only reason why she was even bothering on going.

A knock sounded on the bathroom door. "Mistress..ah, I mean Kallen. Your uniform's set out for you and it's seven," Yumiko's soft voice said on the other side of the door.

Ever since she'd come to serve as a maid for the Stadtfeld Family, Kallen had taken her under her wing, telling her bitch of a stepmother that she was claiming Yumiko as her personal maid. Her stepmother hadn't cared but her scathing "no surprise, filthy Elevens flock together" had nearly caused Kallen to lose her temper and throw a lamp at the bitch's head. She'd just barely managed to restrain herself and, instead, had guided Yumiko to her room.

"Thank you, Yumiko," Kallen said, putting down the brush and wrapping the large fluffy towel tighter around her body again before she walked out of the steamy bathroom. Yumiko stepped back, her head lowered submissively as Kallen walked past her.

"The car is out front whenever you're ready, Kallen," Yumiko added as she lifted her head. "Um, your hair looks nice."

Kallen shrugged. "Thanks," she said, even though she really hated the look. The normal, unoriginal flat look of her hair was boring; she much preferred her wild locks.

"Um, should I leave, Kallen?" Yumiko asked.

"Yes, please," Kallen said, preferring to get changed by herself, and Yumiko inclined her head before walking out of the room.

Once she was gone, Kallen let the towel around her slender frame fall to the ground in a heap and began getting changed into her uniform. She mused that her brother would probably have a heart attack if he saw the uniform she had to wear. The yellow jacket with gold trims and black cuffs fit snugly over the white long-sleeved white shirt; around her neck was a dark green tie on which was the Ashford Academy logo. That wasn't the part that'd give her brother a heart attack; it was the skirt. The black skirt went to the middle of her thigh and, due to her height, it showed off her long legs.

 _It would be kinda funny to see just how Naoto would react though,_ Kallen mused since Naoto had never seen the uniform before.

"Um, Kallen, it's time to leave," Yumiko called through the door after a quiet knock.

"I'll be right there. Thank you," Kallen said and, slipping on her white socks and black shoes, she made her way out of her bedroom. She walked down the stairs, with Yumiko quickly scurrying after her with her backpack in her hands.

Thankfully, the bitch wasn't anywhere in sight and Kallen was able to make it out the door without having to deal with the bitch so early in the morning. She accepted the backpack that Yumiko handed her and slung it onto her shoulder, turning to gaze at the peach-haired girl and gave her a small smile.

" _Arigatou gozaimasu,_ " she said quietly before she turned and began walking toward the car, not looking back to see the girl's reaction to her words.

" _D...D_ _ouitashimashite!_ " the girl suddenly called back before Kallen could climb into the car.

She turned to find the peach-haired girl watching her with a faint blush on her cheeks but her lips were pulled back into a nervous little smile. She smiled back at the maid and gave her a short wave before slipping into the car as her driver shut the door, not saying a word despite the use of the banned Japanese language.

The drive to Ashford Academy was done in silence and, before long, they were pulling up to the front gates and the door to the back of the car was opening. Kallen stepped out of the car and offered a quiet "thank you" to the driver before heading for the gates. She still had about five minutes before the first class of the day would start so she took her time walking across the campus.

She scanned the area that was filled with students hurrying to get to their first class on time and she slowly meandered her way around the crowd, mumbling apologies whenever she bumped into someone. They all ignored her, too busy focusing on getting to class or doing some last minute cramming with their eyes glued to their notes or study guides.

The next person that Kallen bumped into wasn't so much a bump, it was more of a crash. She hadn't noticed him and he, apparently, hadn't noticed her; the collision nearly knocked them off their feet but, thankfully, Kallen just barely managed to regain her balance by grabbing onto the other person's arm. That, in turn, had allowed the other guy to regain his balance before they released each other.

"Sorry," Kallen said quickly, lifting her head and blinking when she found herself gazing into amethyst-purple eyes.

"My fault," the black-haired young man in front of her said with an apologetically exasperated smile, though his eyes had taken on a slightly guarded look and his face was a blank, near apathetic mask. "I was looking for someone and I wasn't watching where I was going."

"Oh, that's okay," Kallen said, forcing meekness into her voice. Oh how she hated being meek.

"Lelouch!" A shout sounded and Kallen turned to find a tall, blonde girl dressed in the same uniform as Kallen jog toward them, a mischievous grin on her face. "Wow, you're showing interest in someone of the opposite gender? The world must surely be ending."

The boy, Lelouch, scowled. "You would jump to that inane conclusion, Milly," he said with a roll of his eyes. "I just accidentally bumped into her while looking for you."

"Oh, bumped into her, eh? You sure that wasn't on purpose? If it was, wouldn't it have been better to do that in private?" Milly said with a perverted grin, waggling her eyebrows. "Better be careful, especially around Shirley."

"Get your mind out of the gutter, Milly," Lelouch deadpanned. "And what are you talking about with Shirley?"

"God, Lelouch, you are so clueless!" Milly said, striding forward, grabbing Lelouch's arm, and practically dragging the slender boy away.

"Milly! I can walk just fine on my own!" Lelouch protested but they had gotten out of earshot before Kallen could hear Milly's reply.

She blinked but shook her head. _That was weird,_ she thought and made her way into the main building but paused because, as she thought about it a bit more, Lelouch's voice sounded oddly familiar.

She shook her head again and pushed the thought out of her mind.

 **. . .**

Lelouch, finally managing to escape the clutches of the She-Devil by the name of Milly Ashford, made his way into his first period class and walked to his seat. He thought over Milly's words to him, about inviting both Suzaku and the girl Kallen—that red-head that Lelouch had run into whom Lelouch was also positive was the same red-head from the Shinjuku Incident the day before—into the Student Council. Lelouch was supposed to speak to Kallen about that offer after classes and, before that, he would tell Suzaku about it during lunch.

No surprise that the responsibility of inviting two new "minions" into the Student Council would fall to him. He was the one who'd recruited Nina and Rivalz a few years ago when he'd first attained—or, rather, was forced to accept by the She-Devil—the position of Vice President of the Student Council.

Dropping his backpack onto the ground, Lelouch rested his chin on the palm of his hand, his gaze fixed on Kallen who was seated a few seats in front of him and who was surrounded by a lot of her friends. They were all asking whether she was feeling all right and if everything was okay and Kallen replied with that same meek voice she'd used earlier.

It was a startlingly contrast to the brash, hot-tempered red-head that Lelouch had dealt with in the Shinjuku Ghetto, if they were the same person but Lelouch was sure that they were.

"Hey, Lelouch," Rivalz said, leaning forward from where he was seated behind Lelouch. "See something you like?"

Lelouch gave Rivalz a deadpanned look. "No, just thinking about how we haven't really seen her since the beginning of the school year so it's a bit of a shock to see her here," he said.

"Yeah, Kallen Stadtfeld," Rivalz said, folding his arms in front of him and resting his chin on them. "She's got some medical condition that keeps her from attending school all the time but her parents are loaded. Man, you sure know how to pick 'em."

"It's not like that," Lelouch said flatly.

Rivalz just grinned.

The teacher, Mrs. Everest, stood up at the head of the class as the bell that began the class rang. "Hello everyone," she greeted them. "Okay, before we start today's class, I'd like to introduce you to your new classmate who will be attending Ashford from here on. Please welcome him," she said with a strained voice and a fake smile.

No surprise considering just who the new student was.

Suzaku had a near perfect mask of neutrality over his face as he made his way into the classroom, seemingly unaffected by the shocked murmurings of the rest of the students around him. Lelouch, for his part, was trying not to react to the many racial slurs that were being thrown at his friend in quiet whispers.

"Hello, my name is Suzaku Kururugi. It's a pleasure to meet all of you," Suzaku said.

To anyone else, he sounded pleasant and friendly.

To Lelouch, he sounded strained and he knew that Suzaku's dislike for most Britannians was still very strong. Nonetheless, the only reason he noticed that was because of the time he'd spent with Suzaku during the invasion, and because he had witnessed the reason behind Suzaku's hatred for Britannian military, and dislike for Britannians as a whole.

"What's that stupid Eleven doing here?" One student whispered and more slurs and sneers echoed one after another.

"Why would anyone allow an Eleven to taint our school?"

"Damn monkey should've remained in the ghetto with the rest of the trash."

On and on it went and Lelouch was getting tired of it.

He stood up, causing everyone to go silent. "Mrs. Everest," he said, very much aware of the eyes that turned to look at him. "There's an empty seat beside me. Suzaku is welcome to use it."

Everest looked surprised. "Ah, are you sure, Mr. Lamperouge?" she asked.

"Of course. Suzaku and I are old friends after all," Lelouch said calmly. He wasn't going to deny it. Since he was the reason why Suzaku was attending Ashford, he was going to ensure that Suzaku's life there wasn't as bad as it could be."

"Ah, okay, Mr. Lamperouge. Mr. Kururugi, you can take a seat by Mr. Lamperouge," Everest said, gesturing to the empty seat next to Lelouch as he sat down.

"Thank you, Mrs. Everest," Suzaku said as he walked down the aisle and slipped into the seat beside Lelouch, giving him a long look as he did so.

Lelouch tugged at the collar of his uniform and returned his attention to the teacher, resting his chin back onto the palm of his hand.

Class went on and, thankfully, Lelouch's proclamations—which had stunned the entire class—and Everest's lecturing stopped the stream of racial slurs from the other students. He knew that he would still have to be very careful; Milly was the only one who knew of Lelouch's true relationship with Suzaku because she was the only one of his Ashford Academy friends who knew of his royal heritage.

So he decided not to focus on that and, instead, focused on how his talk with Kallen was going to go. Talking with her about inviting her into the Student Council would be quick. However, he did still wonder if she really was the pilot of that Glasgow or not but he decided that he could just ask Suzaku since he'd worked with them before. He would likely know and that would save him from having to use his Geass for just that one question since he still didn't know the limitations.

Nonetheless, he should probably get into contact with the rest of the resistance anyway. They worked well together and, with the exception of that loudmouth, they were pretty good at following orders. Lelouch needed to start gathering his own allies, people who would follow him in his quest to destroy Britannia, and he decided that they might be the best place to start. After all, they were small enough that they wouldn't really be noticed, which would help in keeping his rebellion a secret for a bit longer.

While he wasn't sure just what his first move was going to be, he knew it was going to be in response to whatever Britannia decided to do in regards to Clovis's death. That hadn't yet been announced but Lelouch figured it was going to take a while, especially since they were likely going to find a scapegoat since Lelouch had been sure to cover his tracks and they would need to find one. When that happened then Lelouch would make his move.

He and Suzaku, that was.

And he would need followers. He and Suzaku couldn't do it alone, he knew that, and the resistance from the Shinjuku Ghetto would work well to start filling up his ranks.

And Kallen would probably be his best bet at getting into touch with them.

Lunch began and Lelouch made his way to the roof of the school building, knowing that if Suzaku remembered all of the secret codes they and Shintaro had created then he would know what to do. He leaned against the railing, gazing out at the campus below, watching as students gathered with their friends to eat lunch. Kallen was seated down below with her friends on a pair of benches while Shirley was chatting with Rivalz and Nina at a table under a tree.

He heard footsteps behind him and turned to find Suzaku joining him by the railing. He sat down and Suzaku sat down beside him before he turned his gaze to the railing. "I need to get in touch with your acquaintances again," he said.

"Why?" Suzaku's eyes narrowed.

Lelouch turned to gaze at his old friend. "Britannia hasn't done anything in regards to what happened to Clovis. They haven't even announced it yet, which is odd. The only thing that I can think of is that since they weren't able to find the actual culprit, they're looking for a scapegoat. And, once they have that scapegoat, then they will make their move."

"In other words, someone innocent is going to be punished for what you did?" Suzaku asked.

"Yes but I don't plan on letting Britannia get away with that, hence why I need to get in touch with your acquaintances. I have a rough plan but I won't be able to finalize it until I know just what Britannia will be doing," Lelouch said.

"And you want my help to do that?"

"Not exactly. What do you know about the pilot of that red Glasgow, Suzaku?" Lelouch asked, gaze going back to the railing and, more specifically, on where Kallen and her friends were still gathered.

Suzaku was silent for a long moment. "Her name's Kallen," he said finally. "She's the younger sister of the resistance's original, and current, leader Naoto."

"And she's the same Kallen that's our classmate, correct?"

Suzaku didn't seem surprised that Lelouch had figured that out and just nodded. "Yeah."

"Why would she fight against her own country?"

"She and her brother are half-Japanese and identify more with their Japanese half than their Britannian one. Why do you ask though?"

"I just wanted to confirm that Kallen is part of the resistance from the Shinjuku Ghetto and why. I can go through her to get into contact with them. It might be better if I get into touch with them through the first person I got into touch with anyway," Lelouch said, turning his gaze back to Suzaku.

"Why not just ask me to do it?" Suzaku asked.

"I feel it would only help to gain their trust if I speak with them myself rather than go through a second party," Lelouch said.

"True, I suppose." Suzaku rested his back against the railing and stretched his legs out in front of him. "You're not going to speak to them as yourself, are you?"

"They would never trust me if they knew that I was Britannian," Lelouch reminded him.

"True. So was that the only reason why you asked to talk up here?"

"The main one, yes, but Milly told me to tell you that she wants to invite you to join the Student Council. You have to join a club and, since you're staying in the clubhouse anyway, you may as well. Besides, it will help with you cover," Lelouch said.

Suzaku hesitated but then nodded.

The bell ending lunch rang and Lelouch stood up. "We'd best get back to class. I'll meet you at the clubhouse after classes," he said.

Suzaku nodded again.

 **. . .**

Jeremiah Gottwald slammed his hand down on the desk, causing the soldiers in front of him to jump in fright. "What do you mean?" he demanded, orange eyes flashing with rage.

"W...We don't know who the culprit could possibly be. There was no evidence left behind; General Bartley was seen wandering around the area with no memory of how he got there and the Royal Guard were just as confused and disoriented as Bartley was. We have an idea of what weapon was used but it's one that's used by too many soldiers that it would be impossible to find out which one was used, if it wasn't already disposed of."

"In short, we have nothing," the second soldier said.

Jeremiah sat back down, rubbing the temples of his head. "This is just wonderful," he growled. Prince Clovis was dead after issuing a ceasefire order that gave the survivors of the Shinjuku Incident, as well as the rebels that were likely hidden among them, time to flee. And there was no evidence of just who was responsible for it.

Jeremiah ran a hand through his turquoise-colored hair as he closed his eyes, feeling his head begin to pound. "Have General Bartley and Prince Clovis's Royal Guard taken into custody. Their incompetence aided in the assassination of Prince Clovis and they will be held accountable for their actions," he ordered.

"Yes, sir," the two soldiers said before they saluted and headed for the door. It opened and, with a yelp, a certain small blonde seventeen-year-old princess was sent tumbling forward. She was dressed in an ankle-length blue dress with long white off the shoulder sleeves that went to her wrists and a white belt around her skinny waist. The first soldier reacted quickly upon seeing her and caught the girl, setting her back on her feet and then bowing along with the second soldier.

Jeremiah jumped to his feet as he recognized the blonde girl before he, Kewell, and Villetta—who stood on either side of him, the former of whom was holding a folder—bowed as well. "Your Highness," they all said at once.

Lana la Britannia dusted herself off, her eyes wide as she gazed at Jeremiah and then at the soldiers and then back at Jeremiah. "I...Is what you said true? Is...Is Big Brother...is he...dead?" she stammered out.

Jeremiah resisted the urge to cringe. No one had gotten the chance to tell Princess Lana of what happened the night before and he knew that this was probably the worst way for the princess to find out about her brother's death. Well, actually witnessing the assassination, or the aftermath, would have been worse, as the latter had happened for Lelouch when his mother had been killed.

Jeremiah shoved the thought out of his mind. Even if his nights were still haunted by the memory of the assassination of Lady Marianne vi Britannia, because he had failed to protect her even though he was supposed to as a member of her royal guard and had then even failed to protect her children, he couldn't focus on that now. He had to focus on what he was dealing with right now, and that was the chaos that was threatening to boil over should Clovis's death be released before a culprit was found and dealing with Princess Lana's reaction to her big brother's assassination.

"I apologize, Your Highness," he said. "We would have told you but we have been so busy finding the culprit that we just have not had a chance. It is no excuse, however, and I humbly beg your forgiveness." Jeremiah's loyalty would always be with the late Marianne and her children—whom he didn't believe for one instant were dead as the media claimed them to be. Finding them had been the main reason why he'd transferred to Area 11 to begin with—but he had also sworn to serve Clovis. Thus, it was his duty to find who killed him.

Lana swallowed, her bright blue eyes filled with tears but she wiped them away. "Who did it?" she whispered. "Who killed my brother?"

"We...We have as of yet to figure that out, Your Highness," Jeremiah said. "But we will, I assure you that we will."

Lana continued to gaze at him and then lowered her head, chewing on her lower lip. "I...I think I'm going to go to the gardens," she said and, turning around, she left the office.

Jeremiah returned to his seat, rubbing his temples again. "We need to find the culprit," he said finally.

"I don't think that will be possible, Jeremiah," Kewell said. "It looks like the true culprit covered his tracks very well. But we need someone to appease the public, and Princess Lana."

"What do you suggest, Kewell?" Jeremiah asked.

Kewell held up the folder that he'd been holding. "I already thought about that," he said and held out the folder for Jeremiah to take. "If we cannot find the true culprit then we can use him to appease the public."

Jeremiah opened up the folder to reveal it to be a military profile of an Honorary Britannian with auburn hair and quiet blue eyes.

"Shintaro Ihara," Kewell went on as Jeremiah read through the information. "He's the eldest son of Hitoshi Ihara, the former General of the Japanese Military who committed suicide in the waning days of the war."

Jeremiah remembered that as well. Some say that General Ihara had committed suicide because he knew that the cause he was fighting for was a lost one, others say it was because the grief of losing his close friend, the Prime Minister of Japan Genbu Kururugi, on the first day of the month-long war had finally caught up to him. No one knew what the real reason was, only that Ihara's suicide, only a few weeks after the death of Kururugi, had been what ultimately ended the war.

"If we use him as our scapegoat," Kewell went on, "then not only could we appease the public but we should be able to destroy the Honorary Britannian program entirely."

Jeremiah pressed his lips together thoughtfully. He didn't really care for the Honorary Britannian program only because he didn't trust Elevens. "That could work," he said, putting the file down and standing up. "Very well, let's go find him."

Kewell and Villetta nodded and Jeremiah, waving a hand to dismiss the two soldiers, led the way out of the office.

 **. . .**

Lana sat in the shadow of the large oak tree, gazing up through the skylight at the pale-blue sky above her head, her sketchpad resting on her bent knees and her pencil in her hand, hovering over the drawing that she'd started. Tear stains dotted her cheeks but she didn't bother on wiping them away; even the familiar scents and sounds of the garden did nothing to calm her.

She didn't want to burst into tears again. She'd already spent the last ten minutes crying before she'd pulled out the sketchbook and pencil from where she'd placed them in the gardens when she'd first arrived in Area 11 and she didn't want to cry anymore. Clovis wouldn't have wanted that; he always hated it when she cried, just as he hated it when Nana cried.

He always wanted her to be happy, even going as far as letting Lana do what she wanted rather than taking part in all of the political talks Clovis took part in or the balls that Clovis hosted. She had to attend some of them for hands-on experience but she never had to attend all of them. She wasn't nearly as social as her brother and Clovis knew it, which was why he let her get away with not attending when she didn't want to.

She supposed that she was a bit spoiled by her elder brother but Clovis was just that kind of person, at least to her. Sure, she knew that he had a dark side and could be selfish and arrogant and she knew that he didn't really care about the Elevens but she also knew that he had a soft, kind side to him as well. She just had to think about how he treated her, and Lelouch and Nana, to know that he did.

"Why would someone kill him?" she whispered. "Is it only because he's a member of the Royal Family or was there another reason? Man, I just don't know. I hope they find the culprit soon."

Sighing, she returned her attention to her sketch and smiled a little. She was sketching an image of Clovis and herself in the Aries Villa gardens. She and her brother spent quite a bit of time at the Aries Villa with the vi Britannia family while she was growing up until Lady Marianne's assassination. She supposed that she was one of the few princesses in the royal family who actually liked and treated the vi Britannia siblings nicely, Cornelia and Euphemia were the only other two, and so she'd been upset to find out about their supposed deaths. Not nearly as much as Cornelia and Euphemia but she had been upset, even if Clovis never stopped believing that they were still alive.

And now she'd lost Clovis as well.

She closed her eyes as she put her pencil down and then dropped the sketchbook on the ground beside her before burying her face into her knees. She was going to miss him, she knew that she would, and she could only hope that he was happy wherever he'd ended up, that he was at peace.

Even so, she could still feel tears leaking out of her eyes. She let herself sob for a little while longer before taking a deep breath to start calming herself down. Crying wouldn't bring him back and, while Lana knew that she would be grieving for her lost big brother for a while, she should attempt to come to terms with what happened.

Or, at least, _start_ coming to terms with what happened.

Swallowing, she wiped her eyes again and lifted her head. "No, I won't cry anymore. I can...I can get over this. Big Brother would've wanted me to," she murmured and then determination went through her as she recalled what her big brother had been trying to do, the reason why he'd come to Area 11 to begin with.

"That's what I'll do in honor of your memory, Big Brother," Lana said as she unfolded her knees and stood up, grabbing her sketchbook and pencil as she did so. "I'll try to do what you've been trying to do since you came to Area 11. I'll find Lelouch and Nunnally for you, Big Brother."

But she knew that the only way she could do that would be if she could remain in Area 11.

And that meant that she would have to find a way to convince her mother to let her stay in Area 11 even after Clovis's assassination.

Lana blanched. "That...is not going to be easy whatsoever," she said, running a hand through her long blonde locks. "Well, I am seventeen now."

 _Yeah, that's not likely going to work,_ Lana thought and pressed her lips together as she walked over to the hiding place where she usually kept her sketchbook and pencil and tucked them back into it. She thought about it a bit more but she really couldn't find a way to convince her mother not to drag her back to Pendragon kicking and screaming.

 _I have to stay here if I am to find Lelouch and Nunnally because I believe that they're alive, just as Clovis did,_ she thought as she made her way to the entrance to the gardens. _There has to be a way that I can convince Mom to let me stay. There has to be._

But what that "way" was, she didn't know.

 **. . .**

Shintaro flipped through the manual for what felt like the millionth time but Lloyd insisted that he should memorize it. He was seated on the medical bed that he had been escorted to as soon as he'd returned to the A.S.E.E.C.'s base after the skirmish in the Shinjuku Ghetto. Croomy had insisted on it, saying that she wanted to have a doctor check on his injury; thankfully, the fight in the _Lancelot_ hadn't reopened the wound.

Shintaro was also in some shock. According to Lloyd, he's synched so well with the _Lancelot_ and had performed so well on it that Lloyd had decided to hire Shintaro as the _permanent_ pilot for that knightmare. He couldn't believe that he was actually being allowed to pilot a knightmare frame _permanently_ even though he was only an Eleven; he'd only expected it to be a one time.

He was starting to think that it was some sort of joke, that Lloyd and Croomy would soon laugh at him and tell him that they weren't serious before sending him away. But, so far, that hadn't happened and so Shintaro found himself passing the time by rereading the manual, even while he was still apprehensive of the rug being pulled out from under his feet soon.

The door slid open and Croomy walked in, giving him a warm smile. "How do you feel, Shintaro?" she asked, still startling him by calling him by his first name.

"Ah, I feel fine, sir," Shintaro said.

"You can call me Cecile if you would like, Shintaro," Croomy said with a patient smile. "Since you performed so well with the _Lancelot_ , despite the mishaps, I doubt Lloyd will want to let go of you anytime soon so we may as well feel comfortable around each other."

Shintaro blinked, surprised by Croomy's openness and sincerity. "Ah, okay, sir...er, I mean Cecile," he said, her first name tasted odd on his lips but he forced himself to say it. Even if she'd made it sound like a request, Shintaro was sure that it had really been an order.

The door slid open again and Lloyd came in, grumbling under his breath. "It's been hours and they still haven't managed to get all those scratches out of my baby," he whined, lips curving into a pout.

"It'll take time, Lloyd," Cecile said with a roll of her eyes. "Be patient."

"I don't wanna be patient. I want my baby up and running again right now," Lloyd whined and then winced when Cecile jammed an elbow into his side and gave him a look that caused him to shiver. "Okay, okay. I can be patient."

"Good," Cecile said with a pleasant smile.

Lloyd huffed.

Just then, another member of the A.S.E.E.C. came running in. "Sir," he said with a salute. "Margrave Gottwald, Lieutenant Colonel Soresi, and Major Nu wish to speak to you two and Private Ihara immediately."

Shintaro blinked but put down the manual he'd been reading and standing up. Cecile and Lloyd looked confused but nonetheless nodded and the three of them followed the soldier out of the medical wing. They headed down the winding hallway until they reached the hangar where the turquoise-haired form of Jeremiah Gottwald stood with a brown-haired man, Soresi, and a silver-haired woman, Nu, on either side of him and a few Britannian soldiers behind him.

"Ah, Margrave! What can I do for ya?" Lloyd asked cheerfully as he practically skipped over to join the three of them while Cecile sweatdropped as she followed.

"We're here to speak with Private Ihara," Gottwald said, his orange eyes fixing on Shintaro as he came to a stop next to the scientist and the major.

"Yes, sir?" Shintaro said in confusion as he stood at attention. "Was there something you needed?"

Gottwald waved a hand toward the two soldiers. "Shintaro Ihara," he began as the two soldiers approached Shintaro and then, to Shintaro's shock, they grabbed his arms and pinned them behind his back. "You are hereby under arrest for the murder of Prince Clovis la Britannia."

"W...What?" Shintaro said in shock.

"Prince Clovis is dead?" Lloyd said surprised.

"Yes and he is responsible," Gottwald said as Shintaro felt his arms getting cuffed behind him.

"W...What?" Shintaro said again, still too in shock to really say anything else.

"But that's not possible. He's been with us this entire time," Cecile protested.

"Take him away," Gottwald said to the two soldiers holding Shintaro's arms but he didn't fight or do anything as they guided him away. He was still too much in shock; Prince Clovis was dead and they were blaming him? He knew that he was innocent; he didn't do it so why were they blaming him?

Well, he was innocent of this particular crime anyway.

 _Maybe the courts will figure that out,_ Shintaro thought and then snorted inwardly, knowing full well that wasn't likely. He was just an Eleven and he was starting to think that they didn't know who the true culprit was and were just seeking to blame him for it. A scapegoat.

Shintaro wasn't blind and he wasn't stupid. He wouldn't put it past Britannia to use an Eleven as a scapegoat if they couldn't find the real culprit but that just made him wonder if he was right. Were they unable to find the true culprit? Or did they and they just still decided to put the blame on him?

He figured the first option was more likely than the latter but, either way, he was screwed.

He gazed down at the locket that still hung around his neck, tucked beneath his shirt and smiled sadly. _I guess I won't be able to see you again, Satomi,_ he thought as he was guided out of the A.S.E.E.C.'s base.

 **. . .**

Kallen was gathering her books into her backpack as the bell ending the school day rang, ignoring the chattering of her classmates around her. She really wasn't in that big of a hurry; she could always call her driver to pick her up whenever she wanted and she really didn't want to return to the Stadtfeld Manor. She knew that Yumiko would be all right since her bitch of a stepmother was likely spending time with her noble friends bu she still didn't want to go home yet.

Besides, she wanted to see if she could find Suzaku Kururugi. The Japanese boy may be friends with a Britannian but he was still Japanese and she wanted to make him feel welcomed. She was glad that they were allowing a Japanese student to attend Ashford Academy, though she honestly didn't know if that was because he was an Honorary Britannian or not. Hopefully not. She really hoped that he wasn't a traitor to his people because that would make it hard for her to get along with him.

She was also curious about why he was friends with that Britannian Lelouch. Just how did those two even know each other? She had to wonder.

She finished putting her books away and was about to stand up when a shadow fell over her. She looked up and was surprised to find the amethyst-eyed Lelouch looking down at her, and even more surprised by the dreamy sighs from the girls around her.

"Kallen Stadtfeld, right?" Lelouch said patiently. "I'd like to speak with you."

"Um, sure," Kallen said, a little confused by what was happening but figuring that she might be able to question him about his friendship with Suzaku.

"In private, if you don't mind," Lelouch added and a few gasps sounded followed by whispers of "lucky" and "does he have a thing for red-heads?" and "Maybe I should dye my hair red" from the girls around her.

She ignored them. "I don't mind," she said, standing up and slinging the strap of the backpack over her shoulder before she followed Lelouch out of the classroom. He led the way down the hallway and out of the main building toward a tall building that Kallen didn't recall ever seeing before.

"What's this place?" she asked. "I've never seen this place before."

"It's the Student Council Clubhouse," Lelouch said as he led the way past the double doors and into a large ballroom "Principal Ashford told me to tell you that, now that you're attending classes again, you will need to join a club. It's a requirement and he felt, due to your medical condition, that being part of the Student Council would be best. You'd get a lot of benefits, including being allowed to leave campus during school hours on occasion."

"Oh really?" she asked meekly, trying to keep the excitement out of her voice since that would only help her cover.

"Yes," Lelouch said with a slight nod.

"That's cool," Kallen said. She bit her lip and then said, "Can I ask you something? It's not really related though."

"Hmm? Sure," Lelouch said.

"You said that you and Suzaku were old friends, right? How?" Kallen asked, keeping her voice meek and puzzled.

Lelouch seemed to think about how to answer. "He saved my life," he said finally.

Kallen blinked but, before she could ask Lelouch to elaborate, an exclamation from upstairs sounded and they both turned to look as an orange-haired young woman lifted up something. "I found it," she said happily.

"You found the data?" A dark-green-haired girl said, looking relieved. "Oh thank God."

"Yeah, tell me about it. My ass is killing me," a blue-haired boy groaned.

The door across the ballroom floor opened and Milly came in, dressed in her uniform but with an apron around her neck and pushing a cart of food in front of her. "Hey, you found it? Great. Then we can get this party started! Wait, we're missing one of our guests of honor. Lelouch! Where's our second guest of honor?!" Milly demanded, letting go of the cart and folding her arms across her chest, while the orangette, greenette, and bluenet made their way down the stairs.

Lelouch raised an eyebrow, amused. "You told me to bring Kallen here so it's not my fault he's not here," he said.

"Yes it is! You were in charge of recruiting both of them," Milly said firmly.

"Recruiting both of them and making sure they show up to the welcome party are two separate things."

"Not to me."

Lelouch waved a hand dismissively. "Knowing him, he's probably already here and you were just too busy cooking to notice him," he said.

"Um, what's going on?" Kallen said in confusion before Milly could reply.

"Didn't Lelouch tell you? We're throwing you a welcome party, Kallen, to welcome you to the student council. You and Suzaku but Suzaku's apparently missing," Milly said with another glare at Lelouch who just raised an eyebrow, still amused, while Kallen blinked.

 _I don't remember ever agreeing to join but I may as well. I mean if I can actually have permission to be off campus occasionally then why shouldn't I?_ She thought. "Oh, uh, that's nice. Thank you," she said softly.

The door opened again and Kallen blinked, pity and sadness going through her, as a girl with long brown-hair flowing gently over her shoulder seated in a wheelchair was wheeled into the room, carrying a tray of cupcakes on her lap. She was dressed in a white-long sleeved shirt with a pink pinafore over it and a red tie with the Ashford Academy logo on it; her face was peaceful and her eyes, to Kallen's confusion, were closed. It took Kallen a moment to realize, when she didn't open them, that she likely couldn't, and her pity and sadness became stronger. The girl may be Britannian but Kallen couldn't help but feel sad at seeing anyone like that.

She was being wheeled into the room by the Japanese brunet Suzaku.

"Suzaku, will you take these the table?" the girl asked kindly.

"Of course, Nunnally," Suzaku said with a smile as he reached over to pick up the tray and move them over to the table.

Kallen blinked. _Why does his voice sound familiar too?_ She thought. She hadn't really thought about it when he introduced himself earlier that day.

"You were here the whole time?" Milly said in surprise.

"I told you so," Lelouch said smugly.

"Yeah, yeah," Milly huffed but then clapped her hands together. "Well, now that everyone's here. Let's get on with the introductions! Well, Suzaku already met everyone else yesterday. So Suzaku, Kallen, Kallen, Suzaku."

"It's nice to meet you, Kallen," Suzaku greeted her.

"Nice to meet you too, Suzaku," Kallen replied.

"Well, you already met Lelouch, Kallen, running into him this morning and all. I still say that was on purpose though," Milly said with a grin.

"It wasn't," Lelouch deadpanned.

Milly pouted but it cleared up quickly and she was smiling again. "I'm Milly Ashford, Student Council President. Lelouch is our Vice President."

"I'm Shirley Fenette," the orangette said, moving forward and holding out her hand, a friendly smile on her face, and Kallen took her hand and shook it. "I'm on the swim team."

"I'm Rivalz Cardemonde and I'm the Treasurer," the bluenet said, also shaking Kallen's hand.

"Um, I'm Nina," the greenette said quietly.

"And this is Nunnally," Milly said, patting Nunnally's shoulder as Suzaku, who'd moved behind her wheelchair again, gently moved her forward. Kallen briefly noted how Nina was watching Suzaku like a hawk, a small frown on her face. "She's Lelouch's little sister."

"It's nice to meet you, Kallen," Nunnally said with a beaming smile as she held out her hand.

"It's nice to meet you too," Kallen said, taking Nunnally's hand and shaking it.

"I hope we can be great friends," Nunnally added.

"Yeah, maybe," Kallen said, her own lips tugging into a smile. She couldn't help it; Nunnally may be Britannian but it was difficult not to smile in her presence. She just had one of those contagious smiles.

"Well, now that that's done, let's get this party started," Rivalz exclaimed and proceeded to pull out a bottle of champagne.

"Rivalz! We can't drink that! We're underage," Shirley protested, reaching for the bottle.

"But this is a special occasion. We've never gained two members for the Student Council in one day," Rivalz protested, darting backwards to avoid Shirley's outstretched hand but she just darted toward him again, intent on grabbing the bottle. "Whoa! Lelouch, catch!"

He then threw the bottle at Lelouch.

Lelouch reacted reflexively, catching the bottle in one hand before it could hit him in the face.

"Oh no you don't, Lulu!" Shirley shouted and, changing course, tackled Lelouch to the ground.

Lelouch yelped as he landed with a _thud_ on the ground with Shirley on top of him and the champagne bottle's cork popped off, causing a stream of champagne to jut out of it.

Kallen swiped instinctively at the cork that came flying at her but wasn't quick enough to avoid the champagne that proceeded to completely drench her.

A snort sounded. "Nice going, Lelouch," Suzaku said.

"Shut up, moron," Lelouch shot back.

 **. . .**

Lelouch, after Milly forced him to apologize and then get a clean set of clothes for Kallen, set out for the East Wing of the clubhouse, grabbing and dragging Suzaku behind him. Suzaku blinked as he stumbled after him but said nothing as they walked; Kallen had already been escorted to the bathroom while Milly had just decided to start the party anyway. None of them had noticed that Suzaku was leaving as well.

"What's going on, Lelouch?" Suzaku asked once they found themselves in the living room of the East Wing apartment and Lelouch had finished gathering a pile of clothes to give to Kallen.

"I'm going to be giving a message to Kallen today to have her and her friends meet up with us," Lelouch said.

"And how do you plan on doing that?"

"I just need you to intercept Kallen and I while we're heading for the meeting room and just give me an excuse to leave," Lelouch said.

Suzaku pressed his lips together but nodded. "I'll just say you need to go get a surprise for Nunnally so you should probably actually get something for her," he said.

Lelouch hummed and nodded. "I think I know of something I can give her. I can just say I just found it," he said, thinking back to the plushie that he'd found early Sunday morning when he'd woken up from another nightmare and had just started looking through his old things from the Kururugi Shrine until he found one that he'd forgotten he had.

"That'd work," Suzaku said. "I'd better get back to the party before they notice I'm gone."

Lelouch nodded and, picking up the pile of clothes, left the apartment. He headed down the hall toward the bathroom and, shifting his grip on the clothes, knocked on the door.

"Come in. I've drawn the curtain," Kallen called.

Lelouch pushed open the door, briefly glancing at the outline of Kallen's curvy body before abruptly averting his eyes, a faint blush on his cheeks. "Sorry about that. They can be a handful sometimes," he said.

"That's okay. It's nice to let loose every once and a while," Kallen said as Lelouch moved over to put the clothes in the basket.

"Yeah. I brought you some of my clothes since Shirley's and Milly's are in the wash and I don't think Nina's would fit you. I hope that's all right," Lelouch said, leaning against the wall as he waited for Kallen to respond.

"That's fine. That was rather quick. You ran all the way to the boy's dorm?" Kallen asked curiously.

"No," Lelouch said with a shake of his head. "Nunnally and I live here. It'd be too hard for Nunnally to move around the dorms so the principal lets us stay here as a favor."

"Oh, that's nice," Kallen said quietly. She was silent for a long moment. "Thanks."

"You're welcome," Lelouch said and left the bathroom, leaning against the wall to wait for Kallen to finish with her shower and get changed. It wasn't long before she joined him, wrapped up in the uniform he'd let her borrow, despite it being a bit big for her. The two started walking down the hallway while Lelouch explained what they usually did on the Student Council, since Milly would expect him to do that.

"And you're really allowed to leave the campus during the school day?" Kallen asked as they neared the meeting room.

"Yes. Sometimes, we'd go into the settlement to get supplies for festivals or parties or things like that," Lelouch explained.

"I see."

"Lelouch!"

Lelouch and Kallen turned to find Suzaku jogging toward them. "What is it, Suzaku?" Lelouch asked.

"I'm glad I caught you," Suzaku said, not looking the slightest bit out of breath. "You told me this morning to remind you about that surprise you wanted to give Nunnally today."

"Oh, right, I'd forgotten about that. Thank you, Suzaku. Will you escort Kallen back to the meeting room? I'll join you in a bit but I have to run to my apartment real quick to grab something for Nunnally," Lelouch said.

"Of course. C'mon, Kallen," Suzaku said.

"Um, sure," Kallen said and followed Suzaku as he led the way toward the meeting room.

Lelouch darted toward the elevator, since it was faster, and rode it to the apartment. Once inside the apartment, he went to the apartment's phone, knowing that no one would be able to trace it, and dialed the number to the meeting room.

 **. . .**

The party had been moved from the ballroom to the meeting room and Kallen was seated at the table, talking with Suzaku who was telling her about some of the misadventures he and Lelouch had gotten into after they became friends. It was still really odd to see them as the best of friends, since Kallen has never seen that happen before due to Britannian's tendency to dislike, at best, those who weren't Britannian.

Nonetheless, the more Kallen listened to Suzaku talk, the more she began to feel as if she'd heard that voice before and she couldn't begin to figure out from where.

The phone on the table began ringing and Shirley reached forward, picking it up. "Student Council Clubhouse. How may I help you?" she said.

She paused, blinking. "Okay. Kallen, it's for you. He says you should know him," she said.

"Oh, uh, thanks," Kallen said in confusion and took the phone, resting it against her ear. "Hello?"

" _Hello, Q1,_ " a very familiar voice said and Kallen froze. She recognized the voice in an instant as the one who'd helped her and her brother's resistance out in the Shinjuku Ghetto.

"Hello," she said again, unsure of what to actually say, especially when she was in the presence of the Student Council.

" _Meet me at the old Tokyo Tower at 1400 hours this Saturday. Come alone._ " There was a click as the phone line went dead, leaving Kallen to blink and stare at the phone. She didn't know what to do but she decided to tell her brother and her friends as soon as she could.

It wasn't as if she would actually go alone anyway; Naoto would _never_ let her do that.

She handed the receiver back, noticing that everyone was looking at her. "Just my doctor, reminding me of an appointment I have," she said.

"Are you okay?" Nunnally asked in concern.

"Oh, I'm fine. It's just a routine check-up," Kallen lied.

"Oh, okay," Nunnally said and then tilted her head to the side. "Where's Big Brother by the way?"

"He said he's getting a surprise for you," Kallen said.

"Another one?" Nunnally giggled. "Wonder what it is."

The door opened and Lelouch walked in, looking out of breath, much to Suzaku's amusement if the smirk that he was giving the amethyst-eyed Britannian was any indication of how he felt.

"Did you run all the way here, Lelouch? You know you shouldn't do that if you don't wanna pass out, Mr. No Stamina," Suzaku teased.

"Shut up, Exercise Nut," Lelouch shot back breathlessly.

"Big Brother, Kallen said that you had a surprise for me," Nunnally said.

"More or less, I found something a few days ago that we kinda lost seven years ago," Lelouch said, walking over to join Nunnally and handing her a plushie. It was in the shape of a panda with a little pink handkerchief tied around its neck. "Remember this?"

Nunnally took the plushie and felt it, surprise filtering on her face. "Oh, it's Pandy! Shin got this for me when I turned seven," she gasped, wrapping her arms happily around the plushie, a bright, happy smile on her lips. "I thought I lost it when...everything happened."

"Glad I managed to grab it even if I did forget I did grab it until now," Lelouch said, a soft, loving smile crossing his lips as he curled his arm around Nunnally's shoulders.

Kallen smiled a little at the sibling moment.

"Oh, looks like something happened," Milly said, gesturing to the television that Kallen didn't even realize was on. She turned to it as did the rest of the Student Council as Milly grabbed the remote and unmuted it.

On the screen was the image of the turquoise-haired form of Jeremiah Gottwald, the leader of the Purist Faction, but it was the heading that really caught Kallen by surprise.

 _Prince Clovis la Britannia Assassinated! Unknown Culprit Still On The Loose!_

"Oh dear," Nina gasped, her eyes wide.

"What?" Nunnally asked in confusion.

" _People of Area 11_ ," Gottwald began before anyone could answer Nunnally's query. " _A tragedy has occurred. Yesterday, in the early afternoon, Prince Clovis la Britannia, Viceroy of Area 11, was killed in an act of terrorism while overseeing the urban renewal of the Shinjuku Ghetto._ "

 _That's what they're calling it?_ Kallen thought in fury, trying to force herself not to clench her fist and slam it into something.

Nunnally let out a little gasp, shock on her face. "Oh that's horrible," she whispered as Gottwald went on to talk about the tragedy.

Just then, the anchorwoman came back on, cutting off Gottwald's obviously recorded words—that broadcast must have been recorded earlier and only just aired now—and said, " _This just in. The assassin who killed Prince Clovis has been apprehended. It is an Honorary Britannian by the name of Shintaro Ihara._ "

Lelouch stiffened, Suzaku's eyes went wide and then narrowed, and Nunnally gasped in horror.

On the screen, two Britannian soldiers were escorting an auburn-haired Japanese boy who didn't look like he was struggling at all. He just walked after the soldiers like he was a zombie, only moving when the soldiers forced him to move.

Suzaku's hand clenched into a fist as he stood up abruptly and stormed out of the meeting room, slamming the door so hard behind him that Kallen was surprised it didn't break off its hinges.

"Suzaku?" Nunnally said in confusion.

"He's just upset, Nunnally. I'll go after him in a bit but I think he needs some time to cool off," Lelouch said.

"He reacted pretty badly," Shirley said.

"He and Shintaro were raised together. They're practically brothers," Lelouch replied.

"But he betrayed Britannia. I mean, he killed Prince Clovis," Nina whispered.

Kallen bit her lip to keep from responding. Even if Shintaro was an Honorary Britannian, thus a traitor to the Japanese, Kallen couldn't believe for an instant that he was responsible for Prince Clovis's murder. There was no way that he'd be able to get near Clovis.

But she kept her mouth shut, since she had to keep her cover after all.

But she resolved to tell her brother as soon as possible, like when she gave him the voice's message, which she hoped would be soon.

 **. . .**

Suzaku didn't know where he was going. He was too blinded by his rage over what was happening to his other best friend, the other best friend whom he thought was _dead_ , that he just walked after leaving the clubhouse. Somehow, he found himself near the opposite end of campus, where the gymnasium was placed. For a long moment, he simply gazed at the building. It was still pretty early, only about four in the afternoon, but there was no one around; everyone probably went to their dorms.

Sighing as his anger began to die down, Suzaku tilted his head to gaze up at the sky, his thoughts on Shintaro. It was a relief to find that Shintaro was alive but to find that he was being blamed for the death of Prince Clovis, a crime that _Lelouch_ had committed, had been a shock. And he hated it, hated that Shintaro was being punished when it was clear to anyone with a brain their head that he couldn't possibly be responsible.

"Hello," a soft voice said.

Suzaku jumped and whirled around, immediately falling into a defensive stance, narrowing his eyes as he gazed at the tall, slender young man standing in front of him. He had shoulder-length gold-colored hair and lightly tanned skin, his silver eyes were studying him in amusement. He didn't look Japanese or Britannian, maybe European? He was dressed in a long-sleeved collared blue button-up shirt tucked into dark-blue jeans.

"Who are you? And what are you doing here? This is private property," Suzaku said, recalling that the campus was, indeed, private.

"My name's A.A., Suzaku," the golden-haired man said.

"How do you know my name?"

"I have my ways. That's not important now though. I just came to speak to you."

"About what?"

"About your desire to liberate Japan."

Suzaku narrowed his eyes. _How does he know about that?_

"You know, you won't be able to do it unless you have power," A.A. went on calmly. "I can help you there but I'm curious about something. You want to liberate Japan, yes?"

"How do you know that?"

"I will take that as a yes. And it's because I know much about you, Lone Wolf," A.A. said with a shrug.

"You sound like a stalker."

A.A. blinked and then started laughing. "The sad thing is, I can't exactly deny that. I don't mean you any harm, really, but you're intriguing and you desire more than just to liberate Japan, right? I mean, if you had a choice, liberate Japan or protect those that you care about, I have no doubt what your choice would be."

"How can you presume to know anything about me, stalker?"

A.A. chuckled again. "Well, why don't we see if I'm right, hmm? What would you do? If you had to choose between liberating Japan and protecting those you care about, which one would you choose? Please be honest with me," he said, the amusement fading from his voice and his face and eyes turning serious.

Suzaku narrowed his eyes, studying the golden-haired young man as he debated whether to answer the question or not. It seemed as if A.A. already knew about his want to liberate Japan, and if he really had been stalking Suzaku—which was creepy to say the least—then he probably did know that. So did he really have anything to lose by answering that question?

It wasn't as if there was much thinking involved in what his answer would be. He thought about Kaguya, Tohdoh, Lelouch, Nunnally, Shintaro, Satomi, and he realized that if he had to choose between protecting them and liberating Japan then he would easily go with the first option. They were all that he had left that he truly cared about and loved; if he was forced to throw away his chance to liberate Japan to ensure that the ones he cared about were protected then he would. He hoped that he would never have to make that choice, since he really did want to free his country, but if he ever did, he knew what his choice would be.

"I would protect those I care about," he said.

A.A. was silent, studying him and then he smiled. "You really don't change," he murmured. "You are unwilling to throw away the bonds you have with those you care about; even if your bonds get strained to the point of nearly shattering, they are still there and they never truly break and you never truly throw them away. You really are like the other one."

"What are you talking about?" Suzaku asked with a confused frown.

A.A. didn't respond to that, instead just shaking his head. "But can you really protect those you care about?" he asked, changing the subject, much to Suzaku's confusion. "Without power, can you really do it? You're physically strong but against an enemy who doesn't use strength to defeat his opponents, can you truly win? Can you protect those you care about with just your strength and your skills as a fighter and knightmare pilot alone?"

"Of course I can," Suzaku said firmly.

"You truly believe that, I see," A.A. said with a nod, "but what if you had something more? Something else to help you protect your friends and your family." He stretched out a hand and grasped Suzaku's wrist, a bright red glow appearing on his forehead and everything went dark around him.

Suzaku gasped, eyes wide as he gazed around rapidly, trying to figure out where he was and what was going on. He watched as thick bright blue ribbons materialized and began winding around his arms and his legs, dragging him deeper into the darkness.

" _You strive to fulfill a world-changing goal but, at the same time, you desire to protect those you care about that you have left. You would gladly do anything to save their lives and I can sense that you would give your own life if it meant saving theirs. But will that really be necessary? Wouldn't you prefer not to give your life for them, when doing so would only hurt them more than help them?_ "

The darkness was bathed with white fire and a sweet melody began to play, sounding like a beautiful lullaby, similar to the old songs that Suzaku's mother used to sing to him when he was little.

" _What if you could do both? Change the world_ and _protect those that you truly care about? What if you had the power to help in doing that? Would you accept it?_ "

The melody grew louder but it was so soothing that Suzaku found himself swaying slightly to it, gazing around as he did so. There was nothing to be seen in the white landscape that stretched out as far as the eye could see.

" _I feel that you do not trust the power that I am offering you but what if I told you that your fears are all in vain? The power that I am offering you, a Geass, a Power of the King, is not the same for every person. It molds itself after the deepest desire of the person to whom it is granted. The power I offer you will mold itself after what_ you _truly want. If you truly seek to protect those you love, the power will mold itself int_ _o_ _something that can help you do that; if you truly seek to liberate Japan, the power will mold itself into something that can aid in that. It is not I that decides your power, it is you._ "

The white landscape was bathed in brilliant fire and Suzaku looked up, eyes wide when he saw the giant planet of Jupiter hanging so close to the white plane that he was surprised they weren't connected. Stars speckled the black canvas around the planet but their light was drowned out by the light pulsating from the giant planet.

" _I can sense your heart, Suzaku Kururugi. Despite all that has been done to you, despite all that you have lost, you are still pure of heart. You are still compassionate, kind, selfless, someone who would always put someone else ahead of themselves. That is why I know that if you are granted this power, you will not abuse_ _it_ _, you will not let it go to your head. You will only use it to help those around you and you will never use it selfishly. That is why I am offering it to you._ "

The landscape around him grew warmer and warmer but it wasn't uncomfortable. In fact, it was as soothing as the warm soft blanket that his mother used to tuck him in when he was little. It was comforting.

" _You do not have to accept. In fact, you are inclined to reject the offer that I am making. I will not force you to accept the power that I am offering you. If you reject my offer, I will understand and I will leave you be. However, let me ask you this. Do you really have anything to lose by agreeing? If you are truly as pure hearted as I sense you are then no_ _t_ _only will the power take that into consideration when it decides what will best serve you and your goal but you will also never abuse your power so why shouldn't you accept it, whatever it may be?_ "

The melody started to quiet down until it was a faint humming in the distance but the warmth remained as the land pulsated in rhythm with the pulsating planet above the fire-colored plane.

" _Therefore, I propose a contract. I will grant you power, a power that will mold itself into something to help you achieve your deepest desire. In return, all I ask for is that you grant me one wish. If you accept this contract then you accept its terms. But know this, this power will isolate you from mankind; you will forever be different from society. Thus, Suzaku Kururugi, do you accept this contract?_ "

Suzaku was still standing at the heart of the fire-colored plane, the soft melody still humming in the distance, his thoughts on everything that A.A. had just told him. Even if he wasn't entirely sure of what was going on, that power that A.A. was offering him came into his mind; A.A. insisted that it would mold itself it something that would help Suzaku achieve what he truly wanted to achieve. He wanted to liberate Japan but he also wanted to protect everyone he loved that he had left.

A.A. also seemed very confident that Suzaku wouldn't let the power he was offering him go to his head, stating that Suzaku was pure of heart despite everything that had happened to him and that the power would take that into consideration. To Suzaku, that meant that this power that A.A. was offering him wouldn't be something that would harm another person, because Suzaku never wanted to harm another person unintentionally. He'd killed before, yes, but never because he wanted to; it was always in self-defense.

Did he really have anything to lose by agreeing to this contract?

Thinking about, Suzaku realized that he really didn't. If the power really would mold itself after Suzaku's greatest wish—which was to protect those he cared about, liberate Japan, and, possibly most importantly, create the better, gentler, peaceful future that he and Lelouch both agreed they wanted to create—then why shouldn't he accept it?

Taking a deep breath, Suzaku thought, spoke, two simple words.

 _I accept._

 **. . .**

"Well, well, it looks like he's trying to change things. Not that I'm surprised," a soft voice said with a dark chuckle as he crouched in the shadows of a building, having just arrived close to the campus after following A.A. all the way there.

"Guess this just means that the board has gained another key piece but I figured as much. It wouldn't be much of a game if the opponent didn't have his own pieces," the figure murmured. "Hmm, it's been seven years and A.A. has finally made his move. I suppose that means it is time for me to make my move."

He straightened up, resting his back against the stone wall, tilting his head to gaze up at the sky above his head. "This place is different from the world I come from and, yet, it's still very much similar," he murmured.

He sighed. "This world is just as bad as the one I come with. A disease to be eradicated. But, for now, A.A., let's see if you can handle what I have in store for you."

He chuckled and his left eye lit up with the sigil of Geass and images of his future as it currently stood, through his use of his current stolen power, appeared in his mind. He grinned when he realized that, though he hadn't made his move yet, things were still working out for him, at the moment anyway.

"I wonder how you will react," he said, "when I turn this dimension into Hell."

 **. . .**

 _Next Time: Zero and the Lone Wolf_

 **. . .**

 **A/n what do you think?**

 **Blaze: DUN DUN DUN! (Side note: I absolutely love how I ended this chapter)**

 **Lelouch: hmm, still haven't figured out who that guy is**

 **Suzaku: neither have I**

 **Bakura: he's…**

 **Allen: (smacks Bakura with the Sword of Exorcism) no spoilers**

 **Blaze: still accepting guesses by the way and, no, he's not Voldemort.**

 **Voldemort: I AM VOLDEMORT!**

 **Nunnally: why don't you have a nose?**

 **Voldemort: shut up, you filthy little mudblood!**

 **Nunnally: (tears up)**

 **Allen and Suzaku: SHIT! (Take off into the city-closet)**

 **Lelouch: (storms into computer room with a bazooka in his hands and fury raging in his eyes) Who. Made. My. Little. Sister. Cry?**

 **Bakura: (rubbing head) the guy without a nose**

 **Lelouch: (glares at Voldemort and aims the bazooka)**

 **Voldemort: you wouldn't dare...**

 **Lelouch: (fires the bazooka)**

 **Voldemort: (dodges and stares in horror at the wall is eaten away by acid) Shit! (Takes off running)**

 **Lelouch: (chases after Voldemort)**

 **Blaze: I don't own Harry Potter or D Gray man by the way. Anyway, I hope that you enjoy this chapter and reviews, as always, are much appreciated! Let me know what you think of that last line please and thank you for reading!**


	5. Zero and the Lone Wolf

**Yay! I've finished the rough draft of this story! And I really like how I ended it!**

 **Bakura: didn't you end it with…?**

 **LELOUCH, BAKURA MADE NUNNALLY CRY!**

 **Lelouch: (bursts into computer room with a bazooka in his hands) You. Did. What?**

 **Bakura: thanks a lot! (Takes off running)**

 **Lelouch: (chases after Bakura)**

 **That's what happens when you try to spoil the ending, idiot. Anyway, thank you to _Shadow-Shinobi666, DYnoJackal19, OBSERVER01,_ and _theweird1234_ for reviewing the last chapter.**

 **I hope that you enjoy this chapter and reviews, as always, are much appreciated.**

 **5**

 **Zero and the Lone Wolf**

Lana darted into the Viceroy's Office, causing Jeremiah, who'd been in the midst of talking with Diethard Ried about the plans for Shintara Ihara in a few days, to jump in surprise. He stood immediately and bowed while Ried stepped aside and also bowed in greeting. "Your Highness, what brings you here?" Jeremiah asked.

"Is it true?" Lana asked, her voice was quiet but her eyes glistened with unshed tears. "You found my brother's killer?"

Jeremiah felt a bit of guilt as he realized that Lana must have watched that broadcast from earlier, and he couldn't very well tell her that they hadn't and were just using Ihara to appease the public and destroy the Honorary Britannian system, but pushed it aside. "Yes, we have," he said.

"I want to see him."

That caused Jeremiah to stare in surprise. "Your Highness…?" he began.

"I want to see him," Lana said and, while her eyes were still bright with sadness, her voice was determined. "I want to look my brother's murderer in the face and I want to ask him why he did it."

"Your Highness, that is not..." Jeremiah began again.

"I want to see him and I want to know why he did it," Lana said firmly, folding her arms across her chest and glaring at them, clearly trying to look intimidating. It didn't work out that well because of her small stature but Jeremiah knew that, technically speaking, the princess did outrank him; royalty always outranked members of the military, even if they were noble and even if the royal wasn't a part of the military. Even if Lana didn't have much in terms of power in Area 11, she did hold some sway simply because of her royal status.

And Jeremiah also knew that she was just as stubborn as Clovis was and would probably throw a tantrum if she didn't get what she wanted, just as Clovis used to do when he was younger—and still did on occasion when he got older—so he knew he should agree. He didn't want the princess to meet Ihara, simply because he knew that Ihara was truly innocent, but he doubted he really had any say.

Especially since the new Viceroy wouldn't arrive and be sworn in until after the day that they had set for Ihara's court-martial and execution. The new Viceroy could order Princess Lana to stay behind but she wasn't there yet so Jeremiah decided to just stay on the good side of the youngest la Britannia for now.

"If you are sure..." he began.

"I am," Lana said with a stubborn glint in her eyes.

"...then I will take you to speak with him," Jeremiah said with a bow of his head and turned to Kewell, who looked like he was about to protest. "You're in charge until I get back, Kewell. Finish up the preparations with Mr. Ried."

Kewell closed his mouth but saluted. "Yes, sir," he said and Jeremiah walked out from around his desk and approached the small princess.

"This way, Your Highness," he said and led the way out of the office.

Lana swiftly strode after him, able to keep up with his long strides despite being only slightly taller than half his height.

Jeremiah called for his private car to be brought up front to take them to the military base where Ihara was being kept as they walked.

They walked in silence down the halls of the Viceroy's Palace and toward the main doors after that but Lana broke it.

"Margrave?" she said.

"Yes, Your Highness?" Jeremiah asked.

Lana was silent for a long moment. "Can I ask you something?" she said.

"What is it, Your Highness?"

"I've been thinking since I found out about what happened and I...I decided that I want to honor Big Brother's memory by trying to finish what he started, the real reason why he'd accepted the post of Viceroy of Area 11," she said. "And I was hoping you might be able to help me."

Jeremiah faltered in his step and turned to look at the blonde girl in confusion. He hadn't known that Prince Clovis had an ulterior motive for becoming Area 11's Viceroy, just as very few people—Villetta was really the only one—knew that he, himself, had an ulterior motive for requesting a transfer to Area 11. "What do you need help with, Your Highness?" he asked as he turned and started walking again.

He led the way out of the Viceroy's Palace and over to the door as he waited for Lana to answer. The driver opened the door and he allowed Lana to climb inside first before following suit, ordering the driver to take them to the Tokyo Military Base before turning to Lana as the car pulled away from the palace.

Lana was silent. "You were part of Empress Marianne's Royal Guard, right?" she said.

Jeremiah flinched as guilt flooded through him but he answered anyway. "Yes, I was."

"So you knew Lelouch and Nana, I mean Nunnally, right?"

"I did." Lelouch had been a bright kid who always used to cream Jeremiah at chess while Nunnally had been a sweetheart that had everyone, especially her elder big brother, wrapped around her finger. Even after she'd lost the use of her legs and her eyesight, she was still a sweetheart, until they were exiled to Japan and then supposedly killed.

"Almost everyone says that they died during the Second Pacific War," Lana said, "but Big Brother never believed that and I don't either. Big Brother came to Area 11 to find them and I want...I want to honor his memory by finishing what he started; I want to try to find them because I really believe that Big Brother was right and that they're still alive. If you know them then...then maybe you can help me with that."

Jeremiah blinked, surprised that Prince Clovis actually had the same ulterior motive for coming to Area 11 as he had, and Princess Lana seemed to as well. Then again, Jeremiah recalled that Lana had been one of the few princesses who actually liked Lelouch and Nunnally.

"I...don't know much, Your Highness," he said finally. "I know that they were sent to Area 11 during the Sakuradite Crisis but were never extracted when the war began but I do believe that they are still alive as well. I do not know where though and I have been unable to find much myself."

The only thing that Jeremiah knew was that the family that Lelouch and Nunnally had been placed with when they were exiled to Area 11 before the invasion was the Prime Minister's, the Kururugis. However, the Kururugis had all been assassinated on the very first day of the war so that brought his search to a dead-end immediately.

"Oh." Lana sounded disappointed but the determination came back. "But...I really think that Big Brother is right and I'm gonna find them. I think...it'd make Big Brother happy wherever he is if he knows that they alive and okay."

"Perhaps so, Your Highness," Jeremiah said.

They fell silent as the car ride continued before Lana broke it again. "Do you think that the person who killed Big Brother did it only because he's a member of the Royal Family?" she asked, going back to the reason why she was in the car.

"It's a very strong possibility," Jeremiah said.

Lana bit her lip. "Does that mean that I might be next?" she asked.

"You are well protected, Your Highness. Nothing will happen to you and we do have the culprit in custody," Jeremiah assured her while shoving aside the brief kernel of guilt that reared its ugly little head again.

"I hope so," Lana murmured.

 **. . .**

"You've got a visitor, Eleven! Be in your best behavior," One of the Britannian guards barked out, causing Shintaro to jolt out of the light nap that he'd drifted into and he lifted his head, blinking his eyes a few times as the guard strode to the side. The clear barrier dropped and the turquoise-haired form of Jeremiah Gottwald strode into the cell, his face as stern as it had been earlier when he'd interrogated Shintaro as soon as he'd been brought to the base.

Shintaro hadn't bothered on denying that he had anything to do with the assassination of Prince Clovis, knowing that they wouldn't believe him if he did, but neither did he confess to the crime that he didn't commit. He just stayed silent, which had caused the other members of the Purist Faction to attempt to beat the confession out of him but, despite the new bruises and scrapes that littered his body, he still refused to admit to a crime he didn't commit.

He was dead anyway but he wasn't going to confess when he knew that he was innocent.

Gottwald didn't say anything to him, nor did he seem like he was going to take him to the interrogation room again. Instead, he turned his head to the side and Shintaro watched, in confusion, as a small girl that didn't look a day over thirteen, made her way into the room, dressed in a blue-and-white dress with off-the-shoulder long sleeves, long blonde hair, and blue eyes. She reminded him of someone and the way she was looking at him made him cringe a little; her eyes were hard with anger and sadness.

"You're the one who killed my brother," she said. It wasn't a question so Shintaro didn't answer while puzzling over the words until it clicked. This must be Princess Lana la Britannia, the younger sister of Clovis who'd made her public debut the year before; Shintaro had only known that because it'd been broadcasted live, as usual, and he'd watched it with his squad.

He didn't say anything though, neither confirming nor denying the accusation, since he knew that she wasn't asking him; she obviously believed what the Purists had said and what the media was saying.

"Why did you do it?" Princess Lana demanded, a few unshed tears welling in her eyes but she hastily wiped them away. "Was it because he was a member of the Royal Family? Or was there another reason? Why?!"

Shintaro remained silent.

"He has not said anything since he was brought here, Your Highness," Gottwald said. "He hasn't even confessed to his crime, no matter how many times we've insisted that it would be better for him if he did."

Shintaro resisted the urge to snort, knowing full well that it would _not_ have been better for him if he did; it wouldn't have changed a damn thing. He would still be dead, despite Gottwald's insistence that he would just get a life sentence. He was sure that Elevens would never get a life sentence for committing treason; they would just get killed.

Princess Lana stalked forward. "Why?" she demanded again in a tone that suggested he'd better answer her. "Answer me, damn it! Why did you kill my big brother?!"

Shintaro reminded silent.

 _Smack!_

Shintaro winced, his head jerking roughly to the side, as Lana's hand crashed hard into his cheek, leaving a red mark.

"Answer me," she demanded.

Shintaro remained silent.

Lana scowled in frustration, clearly not happy that she wasn't getting any answers. She reminded him a bit of a spoiled brat who didn't get what she wanted. "Why did you kill my big brother?" she demanded again but then Shintaro heard something else in her voice, hidden beneath the anger and frustration: desperation.

While he could sympathize with her want to know the truth, he said nothing because he had nothing to do with it and knew that she was not going to believe him anymore than Gottwald or the rest of the Purists did if he told her that.

"It doesn't look like he is willing to speak, Your Highness," Gottwald said, pushing himself away from the wall he'd been leaning against.

Lana scowled and turned on her heel but not before he saw her shoulders deflate and the frustration and anger in her eyes be replaced by quiet grief and disappointment. She left the cell quickly and mutely.

Gottwald, with one last glare at Shintaro, quickly darted after her.

Shintaro rested his back against the wall as the barrier went back up, thinking about that last look in the princess's eyes. He realized that, despite her anger and her frustration, she really just wanted to find out why he supposedly killed her brother.

It was a shame that he couldn't tell her the truth since she wouldn't believe him.

And it wasn't as if he could assuage her grief and desire for the truth since he didn't know who killed Clovis or why.

He sighed, closed his eyes, and kept his silent vigil. The area around his cell went quiet as the guards, Gottwald, and Princess Lana left.

 **. . .**

Suzaku came back into the meeting room sometime later, though Lelouch could tell that he was still furious over what happened. Not that he blamed him. Shintaro was his cousin and someone that he saw as a brother so it was only natural that he would be worried about his friend. He seemed calmer than before though, which was good.

"Everything okay?" asked Milly.

"Yeah," Suzaku murmured.

"Are you okay? After finding out about Shin…?" Lelouch asked.

Suzaku looked away, jaw clenched. "I'm calm now," he said. "But..." He sighed and ran a hand through his hair before adding, "Can I speak to you in private, Lelouch?"'

Lelouch frowned at him but nodded and stood up. "We'll be right back," he said and led the way out of the meeting room.

Once they were in the privacy of a nearby empty room, Suzaku turned to Lelouch. "They're going to kill him," he said.

"I know."

"And for something that he didn't do."

"I know."

"Are we going to do something about it?"

"Yes."

Suzaku frowned at him. "When did you set up the meeting with Kallen?" he asked quietly.

"It's not until Saturday at two."

Suzaku continued to observe him, chewing on his lower lip. "Will we be able to save him before they execute him?" he said.

Lelouch wasn't surprised that Suzaku knew that it was very unlikely that Shintaro would get proven innocent of the crime; he was Britannia's scapegoat since they weren't able to find the true culprit.

"They'll need time to organize everything. This kind of thing takes, at least, a week to organize so we have time." Lelouch closed his eyes in thought.

"I hope so," Suzaku said.

"It'll be fine, Suzaku. We won't let anything happen to Shin."

 **. . .**

Naoto limped back and forth across the length of the living room of the Kozuki Resistance's current base, cane tapping against the floor, thinking over the message that Kallen had just given him. It was around noon and Kallen had just called him during her lunch break to give him the message that the mysterious voice from Shinjuku had given her. He'd asked her to meet him at the old Tokyo Tower at two on Saturday and told her to come alone.

Naturally, Kallen wasn't at all surprised when Naoto vehemently protested letting her meet that mystery person by herself.

But now Naoto was trying to figure out just who to send with her. He was going himself, he was sure Britannia was no longer looking for him hence why he'd returned, but who should he take with him?

"You okay, Naoto?" Kaname asked as he made his way into the living room, two bottles of water in his hands; he tossed one of them at Naoto who caught it and, thanking him quietly, unscrewed the cap before taking a long drink.

"Fine," he said, screwing the cap back on and tossing the water bottle onto the couch before sitting down since his injured leg was tiring and starting to ache. Kaname would be an obvious person to include but, if it was a trap—though Naoto didn't think it was, it was possible—then it would be better if Kaname remained behind to take control if something happened. "Kallen got a message yesterday from that voice that helped us on Monday."

Kaname looked surprised. "Wonder why he's contacting us so soon after the Shinjuku Incident. And why didn't he just go through Lone Wolf like he had last time?" he said.

"I don't know but I think it's likely that he wants to earn our trust and, by contacting us directly rather than going through a third party, it might help us to trust him a bit more," Naoto said, gazing out the window. "He wants to speak with Kallen this Saturday alone."

"You're not gonna let that happen." It wasn't a question so Naoto didn't bother on answering.

"I'm going with her," he said. "But I don't know who to take with us. The group should remain small but, at the same time, it needs to make a bit of an impression. Me going will help with that since I am the resistance's leader." He turned to Kaname, studied him for a moment, before adding,"I would take you but I need you to take over as leader while I'm gone, just in case."

"You think it could be a trap?"

"I don't think so, not after that voice had helped us out in Shinjuku, but it never hurts to be prepared just in case," Naoto said. He supposed that he'd gotten a bit paranoid since losing almost his entire team and nearly his own life over three months earlier but he had every right to be all things considered. Besides, he was the leader of a resistance against a country that controlled one third of the entire world; he definitely had every right to be paranoid.

Kaname pressed his lips together in thought. "How about Inoue?" he said. "She's a pretty good judge of character, and Sugiyama, he worked as my second in command while you were gone."

Naoto thought about it and nodded as he picked up the bottled water again. "I think that'd work. The three of us, along with Kallen, should be enough," he said.

"Are you sure that you'll be able to make it though?" Kaname asked, his eyes going to Naoto's leg. Naoto had told his entire resistance, and his sister, about the permanent damage to his leg when he'd explained what happened over three months earlier.

"I've dealt with it for the past three months. It's not nearly as bad as it was back then," Naoto assured him.

"All right. Do you want me to tell Inoue and Sugiyama?"

"If you would, thank you."

"You're welcome." Kaname turned and left the living room.

Naoto slung his arms across the back of the moth-eaten couch, tilting his head to gaze at the patched ceiling above his head, his thoughts on the meeting. Lone Wolf had been the first one to be contacted by the voice, he remembered based on Kaname's and Kallen's reports, and so he wondered if the voice had contacted him too. If that was so, would that mean Lone Wolf would show up to the meeting on Saturday?

He didn't think so. Lone Wolf, Suzaku Kururugi, had admitted to feeling comfortable working alone until he found a resistance with a leader he could trust.

However, Naoto knew that the mysterious voice wasn't likely to garner his or his friends' trust right away and he shouldn't expect to. Naoto firmly believed that trust was something that was earned; it was not given away freely. True leaders understood that; Naoto certainly did as he had worked hard to earn the trust of the rest of the members of the Kozuki Resistance in the six months leading up to that mission-gone-wrong more than three months ago.

The door to the living room opened and Naoto turned his head as Inoue made her way into the room. He smiled at her. "Hello Naomi," he greeted her.

"Hello Naoto," Inoue said. "Can I join you?"

"Of course." Naoto scooted over and the blue-haired woman sat down next to him. "So did Kaname tell you?"

"About accompanying you to speak with the voice that contacted Kallen? Yeah, he told me. Are you sure about this though, Naoto? Can we trust him?"

"I don't trust him, no," Naoto admitted, lowering his hands to his lap. "But I'm willing to give him a chance to earn my trust, especially since he did earn a sliver of it when he saved our lives, and the lives of a few civilians in the Shinjuku Ghetto, on Monday."

"True, I suppose," Inoue said. "But you're going even though he asked to speak with Kallen alone?"

"Of course. I'm the leader of this resistance," Naoto said and, more darkly, he added, "And there's no way in hell I'm letting Kallen speak with someone neither of us knows alone."

Inoue chuckled. "Yeah, I can understand that," she said.

"The group won't be that big either but having you and Sugiyama with me and Kallen should give that voice person a good impression, especially if he's associated with some of the bigger resistances, like the JLF."

"And if he's not?"

"His strategy at Shinjuku was pretty flawless so that tells me that's he's pretty good with strategies and that can only help us too."

"That's true."

 **. . .**

The rest of Wednesday passed by quickly as did most of Thursday and, late Thursday afternoon, Suzaku found himself seated at the conference table in the meeting room, struggling to finish his math homework. Shirley was helping him to the best of her ability but he was still having trouble. While he was with the JLF, Tohdoh and a few of the other members had tutored him in as many subjects as they could but, after he'd left, he never really continued so he was about two years behind. Thankfully, Shirley was rather patient in her teachings.

Milly was currently seated cross-legged on the table, sorting through the papers in the folder that rested on her lap. Nina was typing away at her computer but, occasionally, Suzaku would catch her watching him with a small frown on her lips, like she'd been doing since they were introduced Monday. Kallen was working on her own homework, Nunnally was folding origami cranes, and Rivalz was scribbling on a piece of paper.

The only one who was missing was Lelouch.

Milly lifted her head. "Okay, it's been fifteen minutes. Where the heck is our Vice President?" she asked.

"Someone should call him and see where he is," Rivalz suggested.

"A good idea, Rivalz. I nominate Shirley," Milly said, pointing at Shirley who scowled.

"The last time I called him, he hung up on me," she protested. She paused, pouted, and then added, "And I haven't even had the chance to scold him for that!"

"Well, why don't ya do that now?" Milly suggested.

"You know what? I think I will," Shirley said and, pulling out her phone, dialed the number while apologizing to Suzaku about the brief break she was taking. He reassured her that it was all right.

"Oh and put it on speaker," Milly added.

"Okay," Shirley said and, turning the speaker on, put the phone down as it rang.

There was a click. " _Hello?_ " Lelouch's voice sounded on the other end.

"Lulu, where are you? The meeting started fifteen minutes ago," Shirley said.

" _Sorry, Shirley,_ " Lelouch said. " _It doesn't look like I'm going to make it to the meeting. Can you tell Milly?_ "

"Why won't you be able to make it?" Shirley asked curiously.

"And where are you anyway?" Milly asked.

"... _Hello, Milly. I didn't realize I was on speaker. Anyway, I'm j_ _ust picking up a few things that Nunnally ran out of as well as some things that I for_ _got to add to Sayoko's shopping list. It's taking a bit longer than I thought it would,_ " Lelouch replied. " _I should be back in about an hour or so, maybe less but the checkout lines are pretty long today._ "

"Oh, okay," Shirley said.

"Yeah, okay, but that just means that you gotta find some extra time to finish all of your Vice Presidential work for the week by Friday," Milly said firmly.

" _I already finished it all,_ " Lelouch said. " _I'll talk to you guys later._ " There was a click as Lelouch hung up.

Shirley huffed. "We didn't even get to say bye," she said. She paused and then whined, "And I didn't even get the chance to scold him for hanging up on me on Monday."

 _Hmm, so she was the one who'd called Lelouch while we were in Shinjuku,_ Suzaku thought.

"Well, you can always corner him in the meeting room tomorrow. You two can be all alone, with no one bothering you, maybe you can show off your curves while you're at it," Milly said with a huge grin; the implication was not at all subtle and almost everyone caught it right away, especially Shirley.

"M...Madame President!" Shirley cried, her cheeks beet red.

 **. . .**

Lelouch made his way into the East Wing Apartment and to his room, dropping the two cases that he was carrying on his bed. He'd arrived about forty-five minutes before he told Shirley he was likely to arrive precisely because he knew that they would still be in their meeting and wouldn't notice him. He also knew that Sayoko was still out, since he'd called her a few hours ago telling her to buy some clothes for Suzaku, since the latter really only had what he wore when they met in the Shinjuku Ghetto, his Ashford Academy uniform, and some of the clothes that Lelouch lent him. It was a nice gift for Suzaku and it would get Sayoko out of the apartment so that she wouldn't question his packages.

He walked over to the windowsill and sat down on it as he thought about his plans. He'd already come up with the perfect disguise for himself, and something that he felt would fit Suzaku. And, now that he knew of what Britannia was planning on doing in response to Clovis's murder, he had a plan. He didn't really need the Kozuki Resistance to pull it off but he figured that by asking for their help, it would go a long way in securing their trust and help to start securing them as future permanent allies and followers.

As he sat there, he waited until around the time the Student Council Meeting usually ended before sending a quick text to Suzaku to tell him to meet him in his room. He didn't know how long he remained sitting on the windowsill before the door opened and he turned to find Suzaku walking into the room. "How was the meeting?" he asked.

"Good. We mostly just worked on our own homework. Nunnally's still down there but Milly said she'd bring her up later," Suzaku said, closing the door behind him.

"All right," Lelouch said with a nod, standing up.

"So what's all this about?" Suzaku asked.

"I have a plan for saving Shin," Lelouch said and briefly explained the plan. When he was done, Suzaku was frowning at him.

"You intend to take credit for what happened to Clovis," he said.

"It _was_ my fault," Lelouch said with a shrug. "But I don't plan on revealing myself; that is why disguises are important for both of us."

"Both? Why both?"

"Suzaku, we are equals and we are working together. It only makes sense that both of us would debut to the world at the same time." Noticing the conflicted look on Suzaku's face, and having an idea of what caused it, the exiled prince added, "I won't pin the blame for what happened to Clovis on you, Suzaku. I'll take the full blame, since it was entirely my fault anyway."

And he still had bad feelings associated with that. At least he no longer felt sick whenever he thought about that incident.

Not much anyway.

Suzaku studied him and then nodded. "All right but what are these disguises? I understand why we need them, I certainly don't want my identity to be revealed—I've been keeping it hidden from almost everyone for the past two years—but just what do you have in mind?"

"Yours is already made," Lelouch said, gesturing to the second case that he'd dropped on his bed. "Go ahead and take a look. I still have a few days if I need to get the tailor to make any changes."

Suzaku blinked but walked over to the case and opened it, pulling out the outfit and sorting through the white pieces of clothing. "Why white?" he asked.

Lelouch shrugged. "Mine's black. I thought it fit," he said.

Suzaku raised an eyebrow but shrugged and unfolded the uniform. "It looks similar to what I used to wear while I was training with Tohdoh at the Kururugi Shrine, except for the cloak and the mask." He looked up and added, "so what does yours look like anyway?"

Lelouch showed it to him.

Suzaku snickered. "Your helmet looks like a fishbowl," he said.

Lelouch scowled at him. "I happen to like it," he said in defense.

Suzaku chuckled again, holding up his hands defensively. "I'm just saying what I think it looks like," he said before he grew serious and added, "On a more serious note, do you honestly think the Purist Faction will hand Shin over once they find out that they have the wrong person?"

"No."

Suzaku gave him a puzzled look. "Then how are you going to save him?" he asked.

"I have that taken care of, Suzaku."

Suzaku frowned at him and, putting the uniform he'd been holding down, he folded his arms across his chest. "What are you planning on doing?" he asked.

Lelouch, putting his own uniform away, closed the case and picked it up, walking over to his closet and slipping the case into it. "You can keep your uniform with mine for now," he said. "And I'll just use my Geass on them."

Suzaku narrowed his eyes. "Are you sure that's a good idea?" he said as he grabbed his case and took it over to the closet. "I mean...we don't even know just what your Geass is capable of, right?"

"I'm planning on experimenting with it to test out its limits since I don't know them yet. Once I figure that out than I can adjust my plan accordingly," Lelouch added, watching as Suzaku put the case into the closet.

Suzaku sighed. "I don't know if I approve of that," he said. "Taking away someone's free will is not something that I can really approve of but I doubt I will be able to talk you out of it." He ran a hand through messy brown locks as he added, "I'll be coming with you this Saturday."

"Of course. We are working together after all," Lelouch said.

 **. . .**

Saturday came all too quickly and Kallen found herself on the top floor of the Tokyo Tower about five until two in the afternoon. As she expected, Naoto had insisted on going with her and Inoue and Sugiyama joined him. They were standing nearby, Sugiyama was looking through the telescope at the settlement below while Inoue was looking at the various pieces of artwork on the walls. Naoto was standing on Kallen's side, resting his back against the wall beside them, one hand gripping the top of his cane.

"I wonder who this person is," Kallen commented casually, keeping her voice down as she scanned the area. "Do you think he's affiliated with the Japan Liberation Front."

"I don't think so but it's possible. He may also be like Lone Wolf," Naoto commented.

"Right, Lone Wolf..." Kallen still wasn't happy that Lone Wolf had kept the knowledge of her brother's survival from her, though most of the resentment she felt had faded away since the Shinjuku incident on Monday.

Naoto sighed. "Don't be so hard on him, _imouto-chan._ When you really think about it, he had the right idea," he pointed out.

"Yeah, I know, but that doesn't mean I have to like it," Kallen huffed, folding her arms across her chest before she gazed out the window as the intercom came on and began discussing the invasion and what, apparently, Japan had been like before Britannia invaded. Nothing that the narrator over the intercom said was true and it irritated Kallen that they would further degrade the Japanese's culture with their lies.

 _But then I really shouldn't be surprised_ _all things considered_ _,_ she thought.

Two hit and there was no sign of whoever the voice was. Granted, Kallen had no idea of what the "voice" even looked like so they could be there and she just didn't know it. She turned to Naoto but he just shrugged, looking just as puzzled as she felt.

The intercom blared to life. " _Will a Kallen Stadtfeld please report to the front desk? Kallen Stadtfeld to the front desk,_ " the woman's voice on the other end said.

Kallen blinked and turned to Naoto. "Guess I should go see what's up," she said.

Naoto nodded and Kallen made her way toward the front desk. She came to the desk and the receptionist lifted her head. "Hello. Miss Stadtfeld?" she said.

"Um, yeah?" Kallen said.

"We found your phone," the receptionist said, holding out a slim blue phone.

 _This must be a drop then,_ Kallen thought as she took the phone.

"It is yours, right?" the receptionist asked.

"Um, yeah it is, thanks," Kallen said and walked away from the front desk. She was joined by Naoto just as the phone began ringing. She glanced at the caller ID and noticed that it read "Zero". _Is that the name of the person who helped us out on Monday?_ She thought as she flipped open the phone and rested it against her ear.

"Hello?" she said.

" _I_ _want you to board the outbound train on loop line five and bring your friends_ ," the same voice from Shinjuku said on the other line before there was a click as the phone disconnected.

Kallen stared at the phone and turned to Naoto. "He knew I didn't come alone," she said quietly, closing and slipping the phone into her pocket.

"He's not stupid," Naoto said, briefly flicking his fingers toward Sugiyama and Inoue and they walked away from what they were doing and headed for the doors. "C'mon, let's go and see who this person is."

"According to the phone, his name's Zero," Kallen said as she fell into step beside her limping big brother.

"Zero, huh? An alias." Naoto looked thoughtful but didn't say anything as they stepped into the elevator behind Inoue and Sugiyama and road it down.

It didn't take them long to reach the train station and get tickets to get on the train on loop line five. Once they were there, Kallen grabbed hold of one of the poles as the train pulled away from the station, looking around but the passengers were too busy focusing on their own stuff that they didn't give her and her companions a passing glance. The train continued to shoot forward, causing the landscape to blur slightly outside the windows.

The phone rang and Kallen pulled it out of her pocket and flipped it open. "What?" she said.

" _Face forward and look to your right. What do you see?_ " the voice, Zero, asked.

Kallen looked at the metropolitan Britannian city that stretched out to the right, a city that, while aesthetically pleasing, she could only look at with contempt. "The Britannian city. It was stolen away from us and built on our sacrifice," she said.

" _And on the left?_ "

Kallen turned to look at the ghettos, at the place that she considered more of a home to her than the settlement itself. "I see our city. Remnants of the desiccated city after the Britannians sucked it dry," she replied.

" _Good answer. Now make your way to the front of the train,_ " the voice said and there was a click as the person hung up.

Kallen slipped the phone into her pocket and began making her way toward the front of the train. Naoto immediately limped after her and Inoue and Sugiyama followed suit. Getting through the crowd of passengers on the train was rather easy since no one stopped them or gave them any hassle as they navigated their way around them.

They reached the front car and stepped into it. In the shadows at the other end of the train stood one person with another person seated on the chair right next to him, his face fixed on the blurring city that shot past the window.

"Was it you? Were you the voice on the phone?" Kallen asked, making her way forward only to stop when Naoto stretched out a hand and limped forward himself, putting himself almost protectively in front of her.

The man didn't answer her.

"Who are you? And were you the one who helped my comrades out on Monday?" Naoto asked while Kallen huffed, muttering, "I don't need to be protected. I can handle myself" under her breath.

"How did you like my tour of the settlement?" the voice said; it sounded exactly as it had on Shinjuku, a deep voice that still sounded oddly familiar to someone she'd heard from recently but she couldn't pinpoint just where she'd heard that voice before other than on Monday.

A shaft of light illuminated his form; he was dressed in a gold-trimmed black cloak that covered his entire slim figure in shadows with a high gold-trimmed black collar and a mask that covered his entire head with a dark-purple face mask shielding his face from sight. The other figure was dressed in silver-trimmed white but that was all Kallen could make out of his outfit.

Naoto hummed. "Tour? Was that your reasoning for us meeting on this train? Will you explain why you felt the need to choose this particular loop line? It is clear that you did not do this on purpose," he said.

The dark-clad man's voice was amused as he said, "Lone Wolf was right about you, Naoto Kozuki. You are rather perceptive. Very well. I asked you here and took you on this little tour so that you can truly grasp the two: the settlement and the ghettos."

"We know the difference. It's a harsh reality that we've accepted and that's why we resist Britannia's control," Sugiyama said.

"You're wrong," the man said. "Britannia will not fall to terrorism. It's little more than a childish nuisance."

"Childish! Are you calling us a bunch of kids?" Sugiyama shouted.

Inoue grabbed Sugiyama. "Calm down, Sugiyama," she whispered quickly.

"You should know your enemy," the black-clad man went on, fixing his masked gaze directly on Naoto. "It is not the people but Britannia itself and it is war you must wage, but not on the innocent. Take up your sword. Fight for justice."

Kallen narrowed her eyes. "Oh please. That's all easy enough for you to say, isn't it? Hiding behind that mask, why should we even trust you?"

Naoto held up a hand before anyone could respond to that and Kallen was surprised when his gaze went to the white-clad figure. "Before we continue, who is your companion?" he said.

The black-clad figure gestured toward the white-clad figure. "You know him already. He was the one through whom I contacted you and learned of your existence in Shinjuku. He is now my ally," he said.

"Lone Wolf?" Naoto said surprised.

The white-clad figure stood up and moved over to stand by the black-clad figure and Kallen could make out his outfit clearer than before. He was dressed in a white hakama over which was a silver-trimmed white kimono. Over that, flaring around his shoulders and drifting down to his ankles, was a silver-trimmed hooded white cloak; the hood was currently up but Kallen could still make out the silver mask that resembled a wolf's face that rested over his eyes.

"Naoto," Lone Wolf greeted him calmly.

Naoto raised an eyebrow. "So you've found someone else to help out?" he asked.

"No," Lone Wolf said with a shake of his head. "You were right, Naoto. I hadn't yet found the resistance that I wanted to be part of fully nor had I found a leader that I could trust but now I have. Zero is someone I can trust. I have known him for a very long time but it was only recently that he has decided to take a stand against Britannia."

"You trust him?" Naoto asked.

A soft smile crossed Lone Wolf's lips. "With my life. He earned my trust seven years ago, just as I earned his," he said.

Naoto nodded and turned to the black-clad man. "While I do trust Lone Wolf's judgment, I reserve my right to trust you. You have as of yet to earn it all, though you earned a sliver of it when you saved my comrades lives, and the lives of some of the civilians in the Shinjuku Ghetto. That is the only reason why I came to speak with you today, even if you do hide your identity behind a mask. Lone Wolf does the same and I understand why he does it and feel that you likely have a reason for hiding your face as well."

"Again, very perceptive, Naoto Kozuki. Very well, perhaps, as a way of earning your trust, I will show you my power. If I deliver you the impossible then will that help in earning your trust?" Naoto's lips pressed together while Kallen frowned. "Deliver the impossible? What do you mean?" she asked.

"As you all know, Shintaro Ihara was arrested for the assassination of Prince Clovis, even though he was not responsible for it, and Britannia will find him guilty and have him executed as a result. We, Lone Wolf and I, intend to rescue Shintaro Ihara from his execution."

"Are you crazy?" Inoue asked.

"Yes," Lone Wolf said.

"I will ignore that, Lone Wolf," the black-clad man said.

"That's impossible though," Sugiyama said in shock. "How the hell will you pull that off?"

"We can do it," Lone Wolf said.

"And if you would like to help then meet us at the coordinates that I will send to the phone I had given to Kallen but, know this, we intend to do this with or without your help. I would greatly appreciate the help as a way of starting to establish a sense of trust between us but it is entirely up to you."

 **. . .**

Lana gazed out the window of the Viceroy's Palace, lost in thought. Mostly her thoughts were on her conversation with Jeremiah as well as the lack of answers she'd received from Shintaro Ihara, even though that had occurred a few days ago. It was now Thursday morning and the execution was going to start soon; she had considered on going but decided against it since she really didn't care for death anyway. Even if Shintaro Ihara had killed her elder brother, that did not mean that she actually wanted to see the execution.

She'd just watch it on the news. That way if it became too much for her to handle then she could just turn the television off. As it was, the Purist Faction were planning on making a big spectacle of it. With Jeremiah Gottwald, the leader of the Purist Faction, currently acting as the acting Viceroy while they waited for the new one to arrive and be sworn in, the spectacle was his way of saying that he had done what needed to be done. It would help to appease the public but was something that Lana didn't know if she would be able to do had she been in charge, especially not when she was as emotionally compromised as she was.

Besides, Lana knew the reason why she hadn't been named acting Viceroy, since she could have taken the position because of her royal status, was because no one would take her seriously. It irked her. She was still being underestimated because of her looks and she hated it.

But she also knew that Gottwald probably was the best person to take charge at the moment, what with the chaos that was threatening to descend as soon as news of Clovis's assassination had spread, because he had enough experience dealing with problems like that.

The phone rang and Lana reached over before picking it up. "Hello?" she said.

" _Lana, oh thank God! When I heard the news, I thought the worst!_ " The relieved voice of her mother, Gabrielle la Britannia, exclaimed and Lana blinked before sighing.

"Mother," she greeted her and, deciding against asking why it took her mother so long to call and check up on her, she added instead, "Yeah, I'm fine. I wasn't anywhere near where it happened and the Viceroy's Palace has impeccable security. There's no need to worry about me."

" _Lana, I'm going to make arrangements to have you come home as soon as the new Viceroy is sworn in,_ " her mother said almost as if Lana hadn't spoken at all.

She bit her lip. _No, I can't go back, not until I find Lelouch and Nunnally or, at least, find out for sure if they're alive or not,_ she thought. She had to find a way to convince her mother to let her stay.

"Mother, I am seventeen now and I was sent here by Father because both of you wanted me to experience the political sphere. I can't just run away once things start looking bad and I'm not gonna run away like a coward," Lana said firmly.

" _You're my baby girl and all I have left. Please, Lana, for the sake of your dear mother, come home,_ " Gabrielle insisted.

"But I don't wanna come home! I'm seventeen years old! I can take care of myself," Lana protested.

" _Lana,_ _even though I wanted you to come home of your own accord,_ _this is not negotiable. You will come home as soon as I can arrange it._ "

Lana wanted to keep whining and protesting but she knew that it would only grate on her mother's nerves. She was used to getting what she wanted and she and her brother had their tempers and their tendency to throw fits when they didn't get what they wanted but she had a bit more self-control than Clovis did when he was her age. He'd grown out of that stage, mostly, and Lana was starting to grow out of it but wasn't completely there yet. Nonetheless, she also knew that her mother would not budge if she threw a fit, and would probably only see that as further evidence that Lana wasn't ready to take care of herself.

She had to find a way to stay in Area 11.

Suddenly, an idea sparked in her head. "All right, Mother," she said. "I understand. I will get everything ready to go home as soon as the new Viceroy is sworn in." _Unless my plan works,_ she thought.

" _I will see you soon then, baby girl,_ " Gabrielle said and hung up.

Lana looked at the phone and, taking a deep breath, dialed a number that had been given to her the day that she'd left for Area 11. She didn't know if her elder half-brother would be able to help her but, considering he was close to the vi Britannias, he might be willing.

There was a click. " _Hello?_ " a smooth, regal voice sounded on the other end.

Lana smiled. "Brother Schneizel, do you think you can do me a favor?" she asked.

 **. . .**

Shintaro stumbled as he was guided down the hallway with his hands strapped in front of him and a shock collar around his neck. His legs, arms, and side ached from the beatings that he'd suffered through while refusing to admit to a crime he never committed; his face was also scraped and the beginnings of a bruise was forming around his left eye. His white prisoner uniform was dusty from the most recent beating.

He ignored the ache as best he could just as he ignored it when the soldiers that were holding him jerked his arms harshly to keep him upright. However, a hiss of pain did escape his lips; thankfully, the soldiers either didn't notice or chose to ignore it. Thus Shintaro avoided getting more injuries added on to his battered body.

He wasn't entirely sure what to feel now that he was heading toward his own execution. Perhaps it was a mixture of sadness and fear. Sadness because he would never get to see Lelouch again, or even know if he was all right and got out of the Shinjuku Ghetto all right, or find out if Suzaku was still alive. Fear because of what would lay ahead since no one knew what happened to someone after they died; some believed that they were reincarnated, others believed in Heaven and Hell.

Shintaro was atheist. He didn't believe in God or Buddha or anything like that nor did he really believe in reincarnation or Heaven and Hell.

Besides, if Heaven and Hell really did exist then Shintaro knew that he would likely get sent to Hell, simply because of what happened seven years ago.

He was roughly yanked out of his thoughts by the soldiers pushing him forward with the butt of his rifle. Turning his gaze to his feet, Shintaro made his way up the stairs and the two soldiers joined him. They took up positions on either side of him, their rifles resting in their hands as they stood at attention in front of them.

"All right, let's move out," Gottwald's voice called and Shintaro lifted his head in time to see Gottwald disappearing into his Sutherland's cockpit. The rest of the Purist Faction followed suit and the convoy of vehicles began to head out.

It was like that _Kanda Matsuri_ that Shintaro had attended with his family and the Kururugis when he was seven years old.

As the happy memory of that day came into his mind, he was thankful for the jeering that came from the Britannians that lined the streets since he really didn't want to think about back then and that broke him out of it. Even if it was a happy memory, it also reminded him of his father.

So, to keep from going down memory lane, Shintaro scanned the Britannians that were gathered along the streets. That seemed to anger them more but Shintaro was past caring. He was dead anyway and he really didn't like Britannia; he only served them because he knew the alternative was much worse and he wanted to protect the innocent. That was one of the few things that drove him, after seeing all those innocent lives taken during the invasion of Japan, and the most important one.

It was sad that he was about to die without even saving a single innocent life though. He felt disappointed with himself that he hadn't been able to, at least, do that but there was nothing he could do about it. He was a dead man walking.

That wouldn't change.

They were about halfway to the courthouse when a soldier suddenly called out to Gottwald who was standing up in his cockpit's chair next to the stage on which Shintaro was being paraded. "Sir," the soldier said. "A car is approaching from the north. It looks like Prince Clovis's personal transport."

"What?" Gottwald looked surprised then thoughtful. "Hmph, looks like we've got a comedian on our hands. All right. Let him through. All units halt!"

The convoy came to a stop amidst the confused murmurings of the Britannians that were lining the streets or the reporters who were recording and broadcasting the entire thing live. For his part, Shintaro was just confused and that confusion only grew as he watched the transport draw closer. It was clearly designed to resemble a royal's car, including the flag of Britannia waving in front of it.

"You dare desecrate His Highness's transport? Come out of there," Gottwald shouted.

The flag caught aflame and burned down to reveal two beings standing on the roof of the transport facing Gottwald and the rest of the convoy. The taller of the two was dressed in black-and-gold, kind of resembling the black king chess piece except with gold trim. Around his face was a high gold-trimmed collar and a roundish mask with reflective glass around his face covered his head. The cloak that wound its way tightly around his body accentuated his slim figure. The other one, who was only a little shorter than the first, was dressed in a white hakama with a flowing silver-trimmed white kimono over it; over the traditional Japanese wear was a silver-trimmed white hooded cloak with the hood currently up, though not far enough to hide the wolf-shaped mask that covered the top half of the man's face.

"I am Zero!" the black-clad man declared.

"And I am Lone Wolf," the white-clad man said calmly, though his voice still carried over to the stunned crowd.

"Zero?" Some people murmured in confusion.

"Lone Wolf?" Other people murmured in confusion.

Shintaro frowned to himself, not knowing who these two people were or what they were doing there.

"I've seen enough, Zero, Lone Wolf. This little show of yours is over," Gottwald said firmly and Shintaro was surprised when four Sutherlands suddenly dropped from the aerial transports that were hovering above. They surrounded the transport and pointed their assault rifles at Zero and Lone Wolf.

"Firs things first, why don't both of you lose your masks?" Gottwald added.

Lone Wolf remained motionless at Zero's side while Zero lifted his hand to his mask and then his hand went past it to reveal a detonator in his hand. The panels at the back of the transport fell away to reveal the same orange canister that Shintaro and Lelouch had run into in the Shinjuku Ghetto, the same canister that had contained that green-haired woman.

Judging by the look of pure panic in Gottwald's orange eyes, he didn't know that.

"You bastard," Gottwald snarled and pointed his gun at Zero.

"Do you really intend to shoot?" Lone Wolf asked softly, gesturing to the Britannians that were gathered around and watching in confusion. "Even though you know of what will happen if you do?"

"I can just shoot you," Gottwald snapped, turning the gun on Lone Wolf.

"If you do, I will activate the detonator. If you shoot me, I will activate the detonator. It would appear we are at an impasse," Zero said, his finger still hovering over the detonator's activation switch.

"Will you condemn all of these innocents for simply being in the wrong place at the wrong time?" Lone Wolf asked.

Gottwald scowled and lowered his gun. "Fine. What are your demands?" he said.

"We simply want an exchange," Lone Wolf said patiently. "We will give you this but, in return, you will give us Private Shintaro Ihara."

"Like hell," Gottwald sneered. "He's charged with high treason for murdering Prince Clovis. I can't hand him over."

"You're wrong. Shintaro is no murderer," Lone Wolf said with such conviction in his voice that Shintaro almost believed him before he reminded himself that what Lone Wolf said wasn't true.

"No, he is not," Zero agreed. "The man who truly killed Prince Clovis stands right before you."

That caused gasps of shock to echo around them.

"The man who killed Prince Clovis was _me_!" Zero declared firmly.

 **. . .**

" _I will see what I can do, Lana,_ " Schneizel was saying as Lana watched the Eleven Shintaro Ihara being paraded down the main street of the Tokyo Settlement and then the appearance of Zero and Lone Wolf. She'd turned on the television soon after she'd started talking with Schneizel; so far, her talk with her elder half-brother seemed to be working in her favor. She didn't know why it had been so easy to convince Schneizel to talk with Father on her behalf and find a way to get her to remain in Area 11 but she'd managed it somehow.

Then came Zero's declaration on live television. " _The man who killed Prince Clovis was_ me!"

Lana started, her eyes going wide with shock and the phone nearly fell from her grasp.

" _Lana, are you all right?_ " Schneizel asked.

"Y...Yeah, I'm fine. Will you call me once you've spoken with Father?" Lana asked, not taking her eyes off the black-clad form of Zero who'd raised the detonator, not once breaking the staring contest he seemed to be having with Gottwald.

" _Very well. I will get back to you, Lana,_ " Schneizel said and hung up.

Lana tossed the phone onto the table and, grabbing the remote, immediately turned up the volume as Zero went on to calmly state that saving a lot of precious Britannians in exchange for a single Japanese boy was quite the bargain. She was still staring at the black-clad man, the man who'd just admitted to killing her brother.

 _But...But Margrave Gottwald said that Ihara was responsible and yet...this guy's claiming credit for it. Was Gottwald wrong? Is Private Ihara innocent? Then why…? I just don't understand,_ she thought in confusion.

" _It is your decision,_ " the white-clad form of Lone Wolf said softly. " _But can you really risk the lives of so many innocents just to charge one Japanese boy for a crime he did not commit? A crime that Zero has already admitted to doing? Are you really going to put an innocent man to death when the real killer has revealed himself to you?_ "

Lana swallowed as those words resonated within her and she thought about how she'd treated Shintaro Ihara when she spoke with him. She'd thought him responsible and had demanded to know why, even hitting him when he wouldn't answer.

Based on what she was learning now, she realized that Shintaro didn't want to answer her because he couldn't. He couldn't exactly tell her why without lying because he hadn't been responsible so he didn't have any reason to give her. But if that was the case than why didn't he tell anyone that he was innocent?

But, deep in her heart, Lana knew why. No one would have believed him. He was just an Eleven and if Britannia says he was at fault then it was his fault and they wouldn't be swayed otherwise. She'd been in the political sphere long enough to know that much. Even if she tried to avoid going to social gatherings as often as she possibly could, the times that she did went, she learned a great deal of how Britannians viewed those whom they deemed inferior to them, Numbers were at the very bottom in their eyes.

She suddenly felt bad for smacking Shintaro Ihara when it was clear he wasn't answering her not out of disrespect or resentment or anger or anything like that but because he didn't know _how_ to answer her, or didn't think that she'd believe him.

She sighed. _Maybe I should try and apologize for hitting him since he didn't deserve it,_ she thought. Unlike the majority of her half-siblings, Lana wasn't one to think herself too good to apologize when she knew she was in the wrong, at least not anymore. That was what she did as a little kid and she didn't want to act like that again because she didn't want to be seen as a little kid anymore. She already looked like it; the last thing she wanted was for people to see her acting like it. Then she would never be taken seriously.

She turned to the television screen just in time to hear Zero mention something about "Orange" and frowned to herself in confusion. She could see the confusion clear on the faces of the Purist Faction and the soldiers around the convoy and even on Shintaro Ihara's face.

" _If I or Lone Wolf die, it will all go public. If you don't want that to happen..._ you will do everything in your power to let us go, your prisoner as well," Zero declared firmly.

Lana expected Gottwald to snap back or order Zero to be shot anyway so she was extremely surprised when Gottwald suddenly straightened up and said, " _Understood,_ " before ordering the soldiers to release a bewildered Shintaro Ihara.

Lana couldn't help but feel bewildered herself. _What the_ _h_ _ell just happened?_ She thought.

 **. . .**

"I see, they did not allow you to speak," Lelouch said quietly as Shintaro attempted to say something to him only to get shocked by the collar around his neck. Just seeing that made Lelouch's blood boil but he shoved down the icy rage he felt and kept his voice emotionless as Suzaku gently removed the shock collar from around Shintaro's neck.

"Zero, Lone Wolf, it's time," Kallen said, coming up to join them in her delivery woman disguise.

"Then let's go," Lelouch said and, pressing the detonator to release a burst of harmless purple gas, grabbed Shintaro and jumped off the bridge. Lone Wolf and Kallen quickly followed suit, the purple gas covering their escape. They landed on a tarp and then slid through into the back of the truck.

"We've got them. Move to the rendezvous. Eject if you must and stay safe. We will go radio silent for the duration of this mission _,_ " Naoto called from the cab of the truck and the truck quickly peeled out of there.

" _Yes sir,_ " Ohgi, the only person who'd agreed to help Naoto and Kallen with the plan, stated.

Lelouch had to admit, he was pleasantly surprised that members of the Kozuki Resistance had actually showed up to help him and Suzaku a few days earlier. Naoto had told him that he agreed with establishing some sort of trust between them. He, Kallen, and Ohgi also agreed that if Lelouch proved that he could perform a miracle and rescue Shintaro Ihara without harming anyone then that would go a long way of establishing trust between them.

That was good because Lelouch could see the beginnings of his rebellion in the making in the form of the Kozuki Resistance.

The rest of the Kozuki Resistance were waiting at the rendezvous point, watching the news to see just what was going on and whether Lelouch could back up what he had promised to do. Lelouch was sure that if they saw him in action, saw that he could pull off a miracle, then they would be more willing to trust him.

And if Lelouch could get Shintaro on his side as well then that would help too.

Besides, Lelouch wanted to have his second best friend at his side, especially since Shintaro had just as much right as Suzaku did to hate Britannia. It made Lelouch wonder why Shintaro was working for Britannia despite everything that Britannia had done to his country.

He decided that he would ask that among the other things he had to speak with Shintaro about at the rendezvous.

They made it to the rendezvous all right. It was only an abandoned theater deep in the Shinjuku Ghetto and there was no one around. The only ones who were present, Lelouch knew, were the terrorists that were gathered in the ruined lobby. Lelouch went straight into the theater, guiding Shintaro beside him while Suzaku trailed after them. Kallen, with Naoto leaning against her since his leg was, apparently, acting up, rejoined the rest of her resistance in the lobby.

Once they were in the theater, Lelouch released Shintaro and, stepping a few steps up and onto a pile of rubble, turned to face him. "It looks like they treated you rather roughly," Lelouch noted, studying the injuries that he could see scattered on his second best friend's body. "Now you know what they're really like, Private Ihara. Britannia is rotten. If you wish to bring change to this world, then join me."

Shintaro folded his arms across his chest. "You killed Prince Clovis," he said.

"I did. Why wouldn't I kill an enemy commander? This is war after all," Lelouch said.

"I suppose, though what you did with those innocents with that gas..." Shintaro began.

"The gas was nothing more than a bluff. It was completely harmless and harmed no one. It was simply designed to hide our escape," Lelouch reassured him. He would not harm innocents if he could help it.

Shintaro studied him for a moment and then shrugged. "Maybe so, maybe no one had really been hurt but it sounds, to me, that you're one of those kinds of people who believes the ends justify the means, which is wrong, even if people weren't hurt," he said.

"Is it really so wrong when nothing bad happened as a result?"

Shintaro huffed. "Yup. You really are one of those people." He sighed and added, "Whatever. It could have been worse, I suppose. Nonetheless, in response to your request, I cannot join you because I refuse to commit acts of terrorism. Terrorism will do nothing in the long run and all you are doing is fighting for a goal that is unattainable."

"How do you know it is unattainable if you do not try to attain it?" Lelouch asked pointedly.

"Britannia controls one third of the entire world," Shintaro said. "There's no way that you can beat something with that kind of power. All you are doing is continuing a cycle of violence in which innocents are getting caught in the crossfire."

"Is that not what Britannia is doing themselves? They care little for the innocents that get caught in the crossfire, even more so if they're Japanese," Suzaku pointed out, his voice cold. "You were old enough to remember the invasion, yes?"

"Britannia isn't perfect," Shintaro admitted. "And the invasion was very bad." He shivered a little even though the abandoned theater wasn't cold. "But that does not mean that you should stoop to their level. All you're doing is continuing the violence! Nothing good can come from terrorism or rebelling. Even if those two don't mean the same thing, and I do acknowledge that, the results will always be the same; endless bloodshed and destruction, for more than just soldiers on the battlefield."

"If you do not wish for bloodshed and destruction then why do you fight for Britannia?" Lelouch asked. _Shin is a lot more cynical and pessimistic than_ _seven years ago_ _,_ he thought with a small frown, wondering just what had happened to his second best friend for him to lose that fire he always used to have within him.

"To protect those who cannot protect themselves, whether they are Eleven or Britannian. It's possible because the military is supposed to protect those who cannot protect themselves while freedom fighters don't seem to care and terrorists care even less; they both only care about the cause they're fighting for, even if it's a cause doomed to failure, and they care little about the lives that are lost in the process of attempting to attain an unattainable goal."

"You are rather pessimistic, Shintaro Ihara," Lelouch said, still wondering just what had happened to his second best friend to cause that change. "Do you truly not believe that a cause can be achieved?"

"There are some causes that cannot be achieved, no matter how much effort one puts into it, and winning against Britannia to liberate Area 11, or really anyone that is under Britannia's control, is one of those causes," Shintaro said before he turned around and began walking down the stairs.

"Where are you going?" Suzaku said with a frown.

"To my court martial, of course."

"Are you crazy?!" Lelouch demanded, taking a step down. "They'll kill you!"

Shintaro shook his head. "You did just admit to killing Prince Clovis so I don't think I'll be charged with that. Either way, it doesn't matter. I have to go because I do not want to be the cause of Britannia making things worse for other Honorary Britannians," he said. He cast a sidelong glance over his shoulder at Lelouch and Suzaku before adding, "I'd turn you guys in but I doubt that it'd really work and I ain't stupid enough to take on both of ya at the same time. You guys lucked out this time. Thanks for saving me though." He waved at them and walked off.

Lelouch rubbed his helmet. "Was Shin always this stubborn?" he asked Suzaku.

"I think so," Suzaku said.

Lelouch hummed and made his way down the stairs, heading for the lobby of the theater. "You're worse," he said.

"Hey!"

Snickering under his breath before sighing, Lelouch entered the lobby to find the rest of the Kozuki Resistance gathered around. They all turned to look at him before Naoto posed the question that Lelouch was sure was on all of their minds. "Where's Ihara?"

"He will not be joining us. He has gone to his court martial," Lelouch replied.

"What?! After all the trouble you went through to rescue him, he's going back there!" the red-head exclaimed.

"Calm down, Tamaki," Naoto said. "No one can force him to fight against Britannia. It has to be his choice, just as it was all of our choices. He chooses to fight for Britannia, for some reason only he knows, just as we choose to fight to free Japan, for our own reasons. We have no right to force him to join us, only give him the option to do so."

"Well put, Naoto Kozuki," said Lelouch, impressed by Naoto's words. "Shintaro Ihara has chosen his path just as we all have chosen ours."

 **. . .**

 _Next Time: A Day of Apologies and Cats_

 **. . .**

 **A/n what do you think?**

 **Blaze: well, I know the rescue went pretty much like it had in canon but, like I already said, some events just happen that way. But at least we got to see more of Lana's character (and hopefully I did a good job of showcasing Shintaro's character a bit more. I had a bit of trouble with Shin's talk with Zero and Lone Wolf but I hope I did a good job)**

 **Bakura: tch, it was terrible**

 **Nunnally: that really isn't a nice thing to say. Blaze did the best that she could**

 **Bakura: who the hell asked your opinion, brat?**

 **Nunnally: (tears up)**

 **Lelouch: (storms into computer room with an acid-tipped dagger in each hand) BAKURA!**

 **Bakura: fuck! (Takes off running)**

 **Lelouch: (chases after Bakura)**

 **Blaze: (smacks her forehead) he never learns**

 **Suzaku: it doesn't look like he does. Anyway, what happens next?**

 **Blaze: you will see. It probably won't be out for a while**

 **Luciano: (falling) can I have some candy down here?**

 **Suzaku: really? He's _still_ falling, even in this universe?**

 **Blaze: (dumps some caramels over the cliff's edge) he's gonna be falling until I get bored with it, in both universes**

 **Suzaku: I see. I'm surprised you gave up some of your candy**

 **Blaze: (shrugs) caramels are among the very few candies that I like only occasionally anyway and I have more caramel than I really need right now. Anyway, I hope that you enjoyed this chapter and reviews, as always, are much appreciated.**


	6. A Day of Apologies and Cats

**I was hoping to update both this and _Rise of the Black King_ before the end of October but that didn't work out. Ah well. It's only a day late. Both updates will be posted today so I hope that you enjoy it.**

 **On a completely unrelated note, now that I have finished _Fall Into Dusk_ 's rough draft, which new CG story should I work on (alongside finishing the final chapters of the rough draft of _Rise of the Black King_ )? _The Fire Still Burns_ or _The New Revolution_? Your opinion is most welcome but they, whichever one I get further in by this time, won't be posted until sometime after I finish the rough draft of _Rise of the Black King._**

 **Bakura: GET ON WITH IT, FOOLISH MORTAL AUTHOR!**

 **Gees. You don't have to yell. Anyway, thank you to _Doomajor, DYnoJackal19, OBSERVER01, Shadow-Shinobi666, demedichi,_ and _SunsetDawn420_ for reviewing the last chapter. You guys are great.**

 **Happy Halloween everyone and I hope that you enjoy this chapter. Reviews, as always, are much appreciated.**

 **6**

 **A Day of Apologies and Cats**

Suzaku yawned as he followed Lelouch into the clubhouse. The days events had taken its toil on him and he was about ready to just eat dinner and go to sleep. Actually, he was tempted on just skipping dinner and going straight to bed. He was glad that Naoto Kozuki seemed to be leaning towards joining up with him and Lelouch and that Lelouch had earned some more of the Kozuki Resistance's trust. That was a good accomplishment. He was disappointed that Shintaro hadn't joined them but he supposed he could understand, somewhat, Shintaro's perspective, even if his new pessimistic attitude was different from the Shintaro that Suzaku had grown up with.

It wasn't as if Shintaro was a completely different person. There was no doubt that some of Shintaro's quirks, such as his tendency to turn from serious to not so serious at the drop of hat sometimes or the steel in his tone when he was defending his family and friends, remained within him. Nonetheless, the last seven years had really changed him.

 _Then again,_ Suzaku thought as he followed Lelouch into the East Wing Apartment and headed for the kitchen, _I don't think anyone, except maybe Nunnally, escaped the invasion unscathed and unchanged._

"Nunnally, we're home," Lelouch called as he stepped into the kitchen only to freeze.

Suzaku came to his side, wondering what had caused him to freeze in shock and froze himself when he saw who was seated at the table around Nunnally. The first person sitting next to Nunnally and folding an origami crane, was the green-haired woman from Shinjuku, the same green-haired woman who'd gotten shot in the head while protecting Lelouch. The second person was someone that Suzaku also recognized; his golden hair curling at his shoulders and his silver eyes peering at him briefly over the top of the manga that he was reading. It was A.A.

"Welcome home, Lelouch," the green-haired woman greeted him.

"Glad to see you're in one piece, Suzaku," A.A. greeted him cheerfully at the exact same time. Then the two of them glared at each other and the tension between them was thick enough to cut with a knife; as it was, Suzaku could practically feel the fire from their glares.

The greenette broke off the glaring contest, to which A.A. gained a smug grin. He had to quickly duck to avoid getting his eye poked out by the paper airplane the greenette threw at him with surprising accuracy.

"Thank goodness, I was getting so worried," Nunnally said.

"I trust you two have eaten already, judging by your appearance," the greenette added.

Lelouch only nodded numbly while Suzaku just stared, still in too much shock to really do much else.

"Miss C.C. and Mr. A.A. have been waiting for both of you for a while now," Nunnally said with a small smile. "Isn't it funny? They both go by their initials and yet they insist that they're not related."

Both the greenette, C.C., and A.A. shuddered at those words and then gave each other another fiery glare. It was clear that they didn't like each other at all and Suzaku thought that was putting it mildly.

"By the way, Big Brother, I'm just wondering. Is C.C. your girlfriend?" Nunnally asked innocently.

Lelouch started sputtering and Suzaku bit the inside of his cheek to keep from bursting out laughing at his friend's expression. "What?" Lelouch managed to get out.

"He made a promise about our future together, right?" C.C. said with a pointed look at Lelouch who just stared at her; for the first time in a long while, Suzaku was treated to the rare occurrence of a speechless Lelouch.

He couldn't contain it anymore and burst out laughing.

"Shut up, Suzaku!" Lelouch exclaimed, glaring at him. "That isn't what she's talking about. She's just...I owe her a favor. That's it."

"Oh, I see," Nunnally said. "But what about you, Suzaku, and A.A.? Is there something like that between you two?"

"Something like that," A.A. said with a dismissive wave of his hand. "I ain't gay or nothing like that, though Suzaku is rather attractive."

Suzaku abruptly stopped laughing and whipped his head to stare at A.A. who just smirked at him. "What?" Suzaku said numbly.

A.A. snickered and lowered his gaze back to his manga, turning the page. "Nah. It ain't nothing like that. I'm just here 'cause Suzaku- _chan_ 's gotta do something for me in return for something I did for him." He paused to tap his finger on his chin in thought. "Hmm, now that I think about it, it really _is_ the same as Lelouch and C.C., huh? Never really thought about that."

"You can think?" C.C. said mockingly.

"Watch your tongue, baby bitch," A.A. snapped.

"Or what, ancient asshole?" C.C. shot back.

Lelouch's eye twitched and he stalked forward and, grabbing a tea cup, dropped in on the ground so that it shattered. "Oh, look what you've done, C.C.. You're soaking wet. C'mon, let's get you to the bathroom and into a dry change of clothes." He grabbed C.C.'s arm and practically dragged her away from the kitchen.

Suzaku, deciding to get the talk with A.A. over with and find out just why the greenette survived at the same time, moved forward. A.A. had buried his nose back into the manga so Suzaku snatched it out of his hand.

A.A. gave him a withering glare but Suzaku ignored it. "I'll will see you in the morning, Nunnally," he said and darted out of the kitchen.

"Get back here and give me back my manga!" A.A. shouted and ran after him.

Suzaku led the way to Lelouch's room and darted into it, moving to Lelouch's side and throwing the manga at A.A. as soon as the golden-haired young man entered the room. He then kicked the door closed behind the golden-haired young man and folded his arms across his chest.

Lelouch raised an eyebrow.

"Well, since you told me about your Geass, I suppose it's about time I tell you that I have one too and I figure we may as well try to get answers out of C.C. and A.A. at the same time since I think they are connected somehow," he said.

"You have Geass?" Lelouch said in surprise.

C.C.'s head whipped around to stare at A.A. who just smirked back at her and leaned against the wall, scanning the room as he did so, his manga resting on his arm.

"Not the same one as yours," Suzaku said, thinking about the Geass. He hasn't used it but A.A. somehow knew of which power he'd been granted and told him. How he knew what that power was, Suzaku didn't know. "It's called Absolute Future but I haven't used it yet so I don't know exactly what it does. I just figure it shows me the future 'cause of its name."

Lelouch tilted his head to the side curiously. "It shows you the future," he murmured to himself and then shook his head before turning to gaze at C.C. and A.A., who had entered into yet another glaring contest. "I'll worry about that later. For now, just what are you two?"

"Just as your sister said, I'm C.C. and that ancient asshole is A.A.," C.C. said with a shrug.

"That's not what I meant. Why aren't you…?"

"Dead?"

Lelouch didn't respond but it was clear he did want to know that answer.

C.C. didn't give it to him, though A.A. was snickering for some reason.

"So do you like the power that I gave you?" she said instead.

"Hmm, as I thought and Suzaku pretty much confirmed. It was you. Am I right to assume that A.A. gave Suzaku his power?"

"Yup. That was me," A.A. said while C.C. wandered over to the bed.

"Are you dissatisfied with the power I gave you?" the greenette asked.

"On the contrary, I'm grateful," Lelouch said, leaning against the wall and still observing her. "It allows me to speed up my schedule tremendously, which is a huge help, and having Suzaku work with me is a huge help as well."

"Your schedule?"

"Yes. My schedule for obliterating Britannia. I would've had to wait much longer before I could've made the initial move," Lelouch with a shrug and a smirk.

A.A. seemed to stiffen a little on hearing that.

"You believe you can destroy it simply by using that power?" C.C. asked curiously.

"No. I am sure that I could have done it without this power. That was what I had originally intended after all," Lelouch replied.

"And you?" A.A. asked Suzaku.

"I'm here to help Lelouch create a better world for everyone," Suzaku said simply, "and I'm sure my power can, at least, aid somewhat in that. I hope it'll also save lives."

C.C. hummed and, to Suzaku's surprise, she began to strip down. Lelouch quickly turned away and Suzaku followed suit, though he was curious as to what C.C. was even doing.

"So what will you do now? I'm sure the military is after you," Lelouch said.

"And what about you, A.A.? I don't think the military even knows you exist so you don't really have to worry about that," Suzaku said.

"Not the entire military, only a small fraction of it. So it shouldn't be difficult to find a hiding place. I can make do here," C.C. said and Suzaku glanced over his shoulder and sweatdropped as he saw that C.C. had crawled under the covers of Lelouch's bed, stark naked.

"Wait, you expect to stay here?!" Lelouch protested, turning around to stare at C.C.

"A gentleman would sleep on the floor," C.C. said.

"Normally, I'd be a gentleman but since it's you…Move over, baby bitch," A.A. said, striding toward the bed and, moving the comforter on top of the blanket underneath, plopped down on the bed beside C.C. before draping the comforter over him. There was still some space between the two of them.

C.C. scowled at him. "Get off, ancient asshole," she spat.

"No. I am quite comfortable right here. Oh, and Suzaku? I'm staying here too. I ain't got no one coming after my skin so you ain't gotta worry about anyone coming here for me," A.A. said with a shrug,

"I said get off, ancient asshole," C.C. growled, tugging at the blanket that A.A. was lying on.

"Nope. The bed's big enough for both of us and I ain't gonna do nothing to ya. Baby bitches ain't my type," A.A. said.

C.C. cursed A.A. out and rolled onto her side. "Touch me and I will kill you, bastard," she snarled once her back was facing A.A.

"I wouldn't touch you with a hundred foot long pole, bitch," A.A. shot back, rolling onto his side with his back facing C.C.'s.

Lelouch just watched them with a twitching eye, clearly looking like he wanted nothing more than to throw them out of his room. Granted, he wouldn't be able to do that since he lacked the muscles necessary but it was clear that he was contemplating it.

"You both cannot stay here," he snapped. "Whether the military is after both of you or just one of you, I will not have you endanger my little sister like this."

"Oh don't get so worked up, siscon. Nothing's gonna happen to your baby sis," A.A. said with a dismissive wave of his hand.

"I am not a siscon," Lelouch said irritably while Suzaku smirked a little. "Wipe that smirk off your face, Suzaku."

Suzaku just chuckled in response before he grew serious. "I have to agree with Lelouch on this. This is far too risky," he said.

"Yeah, well, too bad. You're stuck with me," A.A. said with a shrug. "Though I'm all for kicking out the baby bitch."

"Why don't I kick your ass out, ancient asshole?" C.C. shot back.

"Wow, can you be any more unoriginal, moron?"

"You're one to talk about being unoriginal, old man!"

"What a wonderful comeback, kid."

"Don't call me kid, gramps!"

"Well, ya act like one!"

"You're one to talk!"

The two of them had rolled over as their argument escalated and were now glaring at each other while arguing and throwing insults and curses left and right, some of which had drifted into different languages and Suzaku couldn't understand them. He glanced at Lelouch who was shaking his head and found himself wondering if Lelouch could understand what they were yelling at each other.

"You don't want to know," Lelouch said as if he knew what Suzaku was about to ask but, considering it was Lelouch, he probably did. He sighed and wandered over to his dresser, pulling out some sets of clothes. "Do you mind if I stay in your room tonight? I will not be able to sleep if I have to deal with that"—he pointed at C.C. and A.A. who were still arguing and insulting each other in other languages—"all night long."

"Sure," Suzaku said and the two of them left the room. Thankfully, the walls were pretty much soundproof so neither he nor Lelouch heard the argument out in the hallway. "I wonder how they know each other."

Lelouch shrugged. "All I know is that, even if I don't particularly like that they're staying here, it's probably for the best. We wouldn't want them to fall into the enemy's hands, especially if they can hand out Geass," he said.

Suzaku didn't respond to that, since he was still iffy about his own Geass power and he also had to worry about just what it was that A.A. wanted from him. He did say that Suzaku would be required to grant his wish but hadn't told him what that wish was. Granted, Suzaku never asked but he wondered just what that wish was.

In light of Shintaro's arrest and putting everything for their debut to the world as Zero and Lone Wolf into motion, Suzaku hadn't really had time to think about the contract he'd entered into.

Nor had he really thought about the power or just how it worked exactly.

He decided that he would only use it occasionally though.

They entered Suzaku's temporary room and Suzaku gestured to the bed. "I can sleep on the floor tonight," he said.

"I'll take the floor, Suzaku. It's fine," Lelouch said.

"This is your apartment, Lelouch. I insist,." Suzaku said.

"And you are our guest so just take the bed," Lelouch said.

Suzaku folded his arms across his chest and gave Lelouch a stubborn look. Lelouch matched it with one of his own and the two of them just glared at each other, none of them budging.

There was a knock on the door and Lelouch walked to it, opening it to reveal Nunnally. "Nunnally? What brings you here?" Lelouch asked.

"Oh I just wanted to say goodnight to Suzaku. What are you doing here, Big Brother?" Nunnally asked.

Lelouch seemed to think about what to say before he finally said, "C.C. and A.A. are going to be staying for a while and I decided to let them use my room so I'm staying with Suzaku until they leave."

"Oh. It'll be just like the good old days," Nunnally said with a smile. "You remember? Back at the Kururugi Shrine after the two of you and Shin became friends?"

Lelouch smiled a little sadly while Suzaku flinched and looked away at the mention of his family's shrine. He still had nightmares about the day he lost everything.

 _Wel_ _l—_ Suzaku glanced at Lelouch and Nunnally and thought about Shintaro— _a_ _lmost everything._

"C'mon, Nunnally. Let's get you to bed," Lelouch said gently.

"Okay, Big Brother. Good night, Suzaku! Have sweet dreams," Nunnally said with a bright smile.

"Thank you, Nunnally, good night," Suzaku said and Nunnally wheeled herself out of the room. Lelouch followed, taking control of the wheelchair and rolling it away while Suzaku closed the door and walked back to his bed. He, after changing, lied down, scooting over since the bed was big enough for two people.

 _It would be like back at the Kururugi Shrine. We shared a bed back then too. At least this time we won't be getting kicked off by Shin,_ Suzaku thought in amusement.

The door opened and Lelouch, likely having changed on the way back, made his way back into the room. "She went out like a light. I think the excitement of Shin's rescue and A.A. and C.C. showing up out of the blue wore her out," he said as he sat down on the floor.

Suzaku nodded in agreement and then rolled his eyes. "Just get in the bed, Lelouch. It's not like we've never shared a bed before," he said. He grinned and added, "And look at it this way. Shin's not here to kick us off."

Lelouch looked faintly irritated, though Suzaku knew it was more because of the memory of that as opposed to anything else before he frowned. "Are you sure?" he asked.

"Oh just get in the bed, Lelouch," Suzaku said with a frustrated sigh.

Lelouch's lips quirked but he said nothing and, instead, climbed into the bed beside Suzaku. "Let's hope Milly never finds out about this. She'll jump to the wrong conclusion in an instant," he said.

"She would?" Suzaku said.

"Yes. If she found out that we're sharing a bed, she'd probably automatically think we're a couple or something."

Suzaku rolled his eyes. "No offense but, for one, I don't swing that way and, for another, I see you as family," he said.

"Yeah, same, but that has never stopped Milly or her wild imagination," Lelouch said in amusement.

The two of them fell silent and Suzaku said, "I've only known her for a little over a week and I have this odd feeling that when I joined the Student Council, I signed my soul over to a devil."

"She is a She-Devil so your feeling isn't wrong."

Suzaku chuckled nervously since he could tell, just by the tone of Lelouch's voice, that he was dead serious.

 **. . .**

Lana was so happy when Schneizel told her that he'd spoken with the Emperor and the Emperor had agreed to give her something to do that would allow her to remain in Area 11. She didn't know how she would handle the duties of being co-Sub Viceroy with the new Sub-Viceroy but she would try her best and prove that she was capable of looking after herself. Not only that but she might be able to access information that would help her find anything on Lelouch and Nunnally.

The new Viceroy of Area 11, Cornelia li Britannia, and her co-Sub-Viceroy, Euphemia li Britannia, had arrived early in the morning and Lana had stayed just long enough to greet them before slipping out of the palace. She'd gone in disguise, dressed in a knee-length purple skirt and long-sleeved white jacket over a white button-down top with her long blonde hair in a high ponytail and a pair of sunglasses over her eyes, and was now exploring the settlement.

Lana had never really had the chance to explore the Tokyo Settlement because she was usually being watched twenty-four seven but, with the brief disturbance caused by Cornelia and Euphemia's arrival, she'd managed to slip away.

Now she was finally getting the chance to explore the settlement.

Unfortunately, she had no idea where anything was or what, exactly, to do.

Sighing, she stuffed her hands into her jacket's pockets and lifted her gaze to the sky above her head as she walked down the sidewalk, not really paying attention to where she was going. She supposed that she could find a store and get a map of the settlement and that might help her find some interesting places to visit.

 _Thunk!_

"Ow!" Lana whined, rubbing her forehead and glaring at the offending pole that she'd just run into.

"Are you okay?" A voice asked and Lana turned, eyes widening as she caught sight of familiar bright blue eyes.

Shintaro Ihara was standing just a few feet away from her; a cap covered his auburn hair and a long dark-blue tattered coat covered his muscular form. He was carrying a duffel bag on his shoulder and was gazing at her in concern. It didn't seem as if he recognized her from that one-sided interrogation the week before though.

"Oh, yeah, I'm fine," Lana said, rubbing her forehead again but the pain was starting to go away. She bit her lip, remembering that she had decided to apologize to Shintaro Ihara for smacking him for not answering her even though she now knew he couldn't have answered her if he wanted to. But she also didn't want to reveal who she was when there were people around the area as she really didn't want to get ambushed by the media.

So she settled on stretching the truth just a bit. "Hey, I'm kinda new to the settlement. Can you show me around, please? I don't wanna get lost," she said.

"Me?" Shintaro looked shocked as if he couldn't believe that she'd asked for his help. She knew that it was more because a Britannian was asking an Eleven for help but she did want to get him away from the crowd so that she could apologize and this was the best way, or rather the first way that had come to her mind, to do that.

"Yeah, you. I mean, you're an Eleven and, judging by your uniform, you're in the military. You should know this place fairly well, right?"

"Well, I guess. I never really had a lot of time to explore while in the military. I'm supposed to be meeting my new bosses soon though but..." He trailed off and seemed to think about it for a moment and Lana frowned, hoping that he wouldn't tell her 'no'. She was not going to take no for an answer.

"Ah, I can spare a few minutes for a pretty lady such as yourself," he said with a smile as he held out a hand to her. "I'm Shintaro Ihara by the way."

"I know who you are," Lana said before she could stop herself.

Shintaro's smile faltered. "Oh, right, forgot that entire thing had been televised," he muttered.

"It doesn't matter now. You were cleared, right?"

"Yeah...just this morning actually."

"Well then it really doesn't matter. I'm..." Lana hesitated as she took his hand. "Just call me Lala." That nickname had been what Nunnally had started calling Lana when she was seven for some reason, though it could have been in response to Lana's decision to call Nunnally Nana all the time.

"Well, it's nice to meet you, Lala," Shintaro said and, to Lana's surprise, he brought her hand to his lips and gently brushed them against the back of it.

She felt a faint blush cross her cheeks. _What the…?This is this first time this has ever happened to me,_ she thought in surprise.

"Um, you...you too," she stammered out.

Shintaro released her hand and gave her a sheepish smile. "Ah, sorry 'bout that. I was raised to treat a lady with respect like that and...yeah, I guess I should've thought before I acted. Sorry," he said.

"Erm, it's okay," Lana said, still a bit surprised by Shintaro's act. "Um, so the tour?" _Yeah, focus on finding a place to apologize to Shintaro,_ she thought firmly. Nothing else mattered right now; even if Shintaro's act was rather nice and proper, a far cry from how Britannians thought Numbers usually acted, it didn't matter now.

"Sure. I'll show you what I can before my boss calls," Shintaro said.

"Okay. That'll work. Thank you," Lana said.

"You're welcome, Lala."

 **. . .**

On the other side of the settlement, near the Viceroy's Palace, Suzaku was having his own encounter. This was in the form of a pink-haired girl falling out of a window into his arms. He stumbled a little but managed to maintain his grip on the pink-haired girl, blinking down at her. She looked vaguely familiar but Suzaku wasn't sure from where he'd seen her.

He'd only come into the settlement to get a few things for himself with the money that Lelouch insisted that he take. Apparently, Lelouch had amassed quite a large sum of money and insisted that the amount he gave Suzaku wouldn't hinder him at all. So, even though he'd protested a few times, despite A.A. insisting that he may as well accept the free money, he'd eventually done just that.

Of course, A.A. had dragged him into picking up something, and paying for it, for him too.

Suzaku hadn't even known that anime was still sold in stores since the invasion ended and he was having a bad feeling now that it was revealed that A.A. was an otaku.

Bad feeling was putting it mildly. Hopefully, A.A. wasn't as bad as some otakus that Suzaku had come into contact with while he was growing up.

Nonetheless, while he was walking around searching for the store that A.A. had told him about, he had arrived at the palace just in time to catch the falling pinkette.

 _Just why was she jumping out of a window anyway?_ He thought as he gently placed the pinkette on the ground. She was dressed in a long pink gown that went to her feet with a rose-shaped choker around her neck and long white sleeves. Her long pink hair fell down her back with strands draping over her shoulders and two buns on either side of her head. Her lavender colored eyes were filled with embarrassment.

"Oh. Thank you. I didn't realize anyone was below me," the pinkette said with a faint, sheepish smile.

"You're welcome but why were you jumping out of a window anyway?" Suzaku asked in confusion.

"Ah, well, that's 'cause...a bad man's chasing me. Will you help me get away?" the pinkette said a bit too quickly and Suzaku blinked. She had said that too quickly for him to really believe her but, since he didn't know if she was telling the truth or not, he decided to just go with it.

"All right, I guess," he said.

"Great! You can show me around while we're doing that," the pinkette said with a bright smile. She paused and added, "Oh and I'm...um...Euphie."

"Nice to meet you, Euphie. I'm Suzaku Kururugi," Suzaku said, holding out a hand and the pinkette took it before shaking it in greeting.

She didn't release it as she started walking down the road. "Well, let's go then," she said.

Suzaku chuckled softly as he stumbled after her. "Where would you like to go?" he asked.

"I dunno," Euphie said, releasing his hand as he fell into step beside her as they headed down the street. "I just arrived in Area 11 from the Homeland but I don't really know much about it and I only have today to really explore it 'cause my vacation is ending tomorrow."

"Vacation? From school?"

"Sure."

Suzaku studied her. "I can show you a few places," he said finally. "I have to stop by a store to get something for a friend of mine anyway. We can just go exploring, I suppose."

"That sounds good to me. Thank you," Euphie said.

The two walked down the street and Suzaku scanned the area, looking for the shop that A.A. had told him about when Euphie posed a question. "Are you a student, Suzaku?" she said.

He cast a sidelong glance at her. "Yeah. A close friend of mine got me into school a little over a week ago," he said.

"That's good. I wish I could attend a normal high school myself," Euphie said.

"Do you attend a private school or something?"

"Or something. Oh, look, there's a clothing shop over there. Let's go take a look," the pinkette suggested and Suzaku followed her gesture and noticed that the clothing shop she'd pointed out was right next to the shop that A.A. had told him to find. Two people, one carrying a duffel bag while the other was walking slightly in front of him, were walking right past the stores.

"All right. It's right next door to where I'm heading anyway," he said and the two headed for the crosswalk. They walked across the street once it was safe to do so, past the couple who were walking in the opposite direction, and Euphie studied the mannequins that were on display contemplatively. One of the mannequins was posing while wearing a long purple dress and Euphie tilted her head to the side before mimicking the pose.

Suzaku couldn't help but chuckle at the sight.

Euphie pouted at him, which only caused him to laugh harder.

"What's so funny?" she protested.

"Nothing, sorry," Suzaku said as he managed to regain control of his laughter.

Euphie huffed, still pouting, but she didn't look angry. She just looked slightly irritated and that was fading rather quickly. "Should we go get the thing that your friend sent you out to get?" she asked.

"Sure." Suzaku led the way into the store that appeared to sell Japanese-related things; how they got away with having a Japanese-themed store in the heart of the Tokyo Settlement, Suzaku had no idea but they somehow managed it.

The bell chimed as he walked into the shop, holding the door open for Euphie who immediately began scanning the area. Suzaku also looked around as he made his way across the floor; the shop brought back bittersweet memories. _Katanas_ rested on stands attached to the walls and fans rested on the counter-tops along with mangas and box sets of various kinds of anime, some of which Suzaku recognized from his childhood.

"Good morning," the shopkeeper greeted Suzaku. He was Japanese and easily in his late thirties with short-cropped dark-brown hair.

" _Ohayo gozaimasu,_ " Suzaku greeted him with a polite bow.

The shopkeeper looked surprise and then smiled. "What can I do for you today, _okyaku-sama_?" he asked.

"I'm here to pick up an order," Suzaku said.

The shopkeeper nodded and moved over to his computer. "What's the name on the order _?_ " he said.

"It should be A.A.," Suzaku replied and the shopkeeper typed it in before nodding.

"I will be right back with that," he said.

" _Arigatou gozaimasu,_ " Suzaku said and the shopkeeper disappeared into the back of the shop.

"That's Japanese, isn't it?" Euphie asked, coming to Suzaku's side from where she'd been examining a pink kimono with a pattern of white lotus flowers on it. "It's a really nice language."

"It is," Suzaku said.

"Why did Britannia ban it?" Euphie wondered aloud.

 _Because they took everything from Japan anyway so why not also take our language?_ Suzaku thought bitterly but pushed the thought out of his mind as the shopkeeper came back.

"That will be twenty five seventy two," he said after he scanned the box set and slipped it into a plastic bag.

Suzaku counted out the appropriate amount before handing it over to the shopkeeper, repeating his thanks in Japanese as he took the plastic bag.

"You're welcome. _Yoi ichinichi o_ ," the shopkeeper said.

" _Yoi ichinichi o,_ " Suzaku replied with a slight bow before he turned and left the store, Euphie falling into step beside him. He glanced at her. "So where do you want to go next?"

"I don't know." Her stomach growled a little and she, flushing, added, "Erm, I am getting a bit hungry though."

"Then let's go get something to eat," Suzaku said and led the way to a hot dog vendor that was working nearby. After buying himself and Euphie a hot dog, the two of them walked over to a bench overlooking the park they'd reached and sat down. The park was pretty empty save for the couple from earlier who were laying on their backs on the grass nearby.

"So why did you lie earlier anyway?" Suzaku asked after he and Euphie finished eating. "There was no one really chasing you, right?"

He didn't hear a response and, instead, heard meowing. Turning, he spotted Euphie kneeling in front of a small dark gray kitten who seemed to be favoring one of his paws. Euphie pouted. "Oh, he's injured. Here, let me help you," she said and meowed at the cat as she tore off a strip of her dress and reached out a hand toward the cat. The cat hissed but then paused as if noticing that Euphie wasn't trying to hurt him and padded closer. She gently picked up the cat and wrapped up its paw with the strip of fabric.

"Isn't he just so cute?" she said, turning and holding up the cat toward Suzaku.

"Yeah, he is," Suzaku said, stretching out a hand toward the cat only to wince when the cat bit into his finger. "Ow."

"Oh, you have trouble with cats?" Euphie asked as she sat down, the cat resting on her lap.

"I like 'em just fine," Suzaku said, stretching out a hand toward the cat again only to yank it back when the cat hissed at him. "The feeling's not mutual apparently."

Euphie giggled. "I was always told that unrequited love is the sign of a good person," she said just as the cat hopped off her lap and bounded away. She pouted. "Aw, kitty ran away."

Suzaku chuckled before he grew serious. "So why did you lie earlier, Euphie?" he asked.

"Oh? Are you worried about me?" Euphie asked, glancing at him.

"Um, well, yeah," Suzaku admitted.

"Well, then you can accompany me a bit longer," she said as she jumped to her feet and Suzaku, smiling a little since it was hard not to smile at Euphie's energy and enthusiasm, stood up and nodded.

"All right, for a bit longer," he said.

 **. . .**

Lana led the way down the street, not really sure where she was going, only paying attention to the places that Shintaro was pointing out to her as they walked. She walked a little ahead of the Eleven boy, trying to gather her thoughts and find a good way to apologize to him. They walked past a clothing shop and a store that sold Eleven-related stuff and Shintaro's comment about how he was surprised that Britannia was allowing such a store to exist brought Lana out of her thoughts.

"Why do you say that?" she asked as she fell back to walk alongside Shintaro as they neared the crosswalk.

"Well, that's the only shop I've seen that sells stuff related to Area 11 before the invasion and I've never seen other stores like that in the settlement itself. They're usually only found in the ghettos and, even then, there are few in number. I mean Britannia went to such lengths to create Area 11 so why would they keep something to remind everyone of Area 11 pre-invasion?" Shintaro wondered.

Lana blinked as the crosswalk flashed, saying that it was safe to cross. "I hadn't thought about that. It really is weird. Maybe they just think that there are some things about Area 11 pre-invasion that shouldn't be lost, art wise or anything like that," she said as they walked past the crosswalk, passing a couple that was going in the opposite direction.

"I mean," Lana added, "my brother used to be inspired by artwork and the like from Area 11 pre-invasion for his paintings." Her eyes filled with sadness as she thought about the loss of her big brother and she blinked away the tears.

Shintaro glanced at her in concern, briefly taking in the tears she was trying to suppress. "I'm sorry for your loss. Were you close to your big brother?" he asked.

"Yeah," Lana admitted, wiping her eyes. "Closer to him than the rest of my family and I miss him. I guess...I shouldn't be surprised that I still miss him. It hasn't even been two weeks since he was killed after all." She knew that Shintaro didn't know that she was talking about the prince that everyone thought he had killed and she was going to keep it that way for the time being. They were still around too many people and she wanted them to be in relative privacy for when she apologized to him and revealed her identity.

"I'm sorry," Shintaro said, resting a hand hesitantly on her shoulder as if trying to comfort her.

She smiled slightly at him, surprised by the gesture. _You really aren't like how most Elevens are painted by Britannia and you've proven yourself to be really nice. Now I feel even more bad for hitting you,_ she thought. "Thank you," she said out loud.

"You're welcome," Shintaro said with a nervous smile before he removed his hand from her shoulder as the two continued down the sidewalk they'd started walking on a few minutes earlier. "Um, what do you want to do now?"

Lana scanned the area until she spotted a park in the distance and pointed to it. "Why don't we go to the park?" she suggested.

"Okay," Shintaro said and the two of them headed down the sidewalk toward the park.

Lana folded her arms behind her head as they entered the park and gazed around at the stalks of grass that waved in the slight warm breeze, at the tall, slender trees that rose between benches, at the winding stone pathway that cut through its heart to the fountain at the park's center. "This would make a good setting to draw," she commented as she wandered over to a patch of grass and flopped down, gazing up at the sky.

She turned to Shintaro who stood awkwardly by her and patted the spot next to her. "C'mon, I won't bite," she said.

Shintaro sat down next to her, still looking a bit awkward and nervous and he rubbed the back of his head with a sheepish smile. "Sorry. I guess I'm still not entirely used to being treated like this by a Britannian, ah, no offense intended," he said.

"None taken," Lana said, turning her gaze back to the sky as a flash of guilt went through as she recalled that she hadn't treated him that well when she first met him.

She turned her head to gaze at the kind Eleven boy who had one leg stretched in front of him while the other was bent and his chin was resting on his bent knee. She scanned the area but there were still people around that occasionally glanced at her and Shintaro. She noticed, now, that it seemed as if her spending time with an Eleven was attracting people's attention, even if they didn't know who she was.

 _Well, this isn't exactly private. Guess I'll just find another spot but, for now, I'm comfortable and I don't want to move,_ she thought. She studied the clouds for a moment before pointing to one that looked like a lopsided ice cream cone to her. "I think that cloud looks like an ice cream cone," she said.

Shintaro followed her gesture and blinked. "Really," he said, laying down and gazing at the cloud. "I don't see it. I do see one that looks like a puppy though." He pointed to one of the clouds.

Lana scanned the cloud that he'd gestured to and frowned. "That's not a puppy. That's a tiger," she said.

"A tiger? Really?" Shintaro sounded amused. "It's a puppy. I'm sure of it."

"You're blind. It's clearly a tiger."

"How is that a tiger? Its face is the face of a puppy."

"No, it's not."

"Yeah, it is."

"That is not the face of a puppy."

"Well, I don't think it's the face of a tiger."

"Look, it's got whiskers."

"Those aren't whiskers. Those are just stripes on the puppy's face."

"It's not a dang puppy. It's a tiger!"

"No, it's a puppy."

The two of them stared at each other as they argued over what the cloud actually looked like and Lana was quick to realize the silliness of their argument. She bit her lip but the giggle she was trying to suppress came out anyway.

Shintaro seemed to have realized how silly their argument was as well because his own laughter joined hers.

"Were we really arguing over what a cloud was shaped like?" he asked once he managed to get control of his laughter.

"I know, right? Why were we arguing about that of all things?" Lana said around her giggles as she sat up, stretching her arms above her head.

"I haven't the slightest clue," Shintaro said with a shake of his head, a small carefree smile on his lips as he sat up as well.

Lana smiled. _It's really weird that I can act like a regular teenager here and yet not at the Viceroy's Palace. I suppose it might be because I'm not getting treated like I'm younger than I actually am, which is a welcoming relief,_ she thought. _But now I think it's time I found a place to apologize to Shintaro for hitting him._

She stood up and Shintaro glanced up at her. She glanced at him. "Ready to go?" she asked.

"Where to?" Shintaro asked, getting to his feet and grabbing the duffel bag she hadn't noticed him drop at his side.

 _Someplace where I won't be hounded by the media when I reveal who I am,_ she thought and wracked her mind until she came up with the perfect option. "Will you take me to the Shinjuku Ghetto?" she asked.

Shintaro started, staring at her in surprise but she held his gaze. Even if he couldn't see her eyes because of the sunglasses, she hoped that he could see that she was not going to back down from her decision.

Besides, in light of recent events, she did want to see the ghetto and pay her respects for those who had died there, including her brother since her brother had been killed in that ghetto. She hadn't had the chance to pay her respects because of the whirlwind of activity that followed her brother's assassination so she may as well kill two birds with one stone.

"All right," Shintaro said finally. "I'll take you there."

"Thank you," Lana said.

 **. . .**

Suzaku yawned, covering his mouth as he and Euphie made their way out of the park and headed deeper into the settlement. Euphie glanced at him with a faint smile on her lips. "Are you getting tired?" she asked.

"A little. We've done a lot of walking around today," Suzaku said.

"Yeah. Thank you for accompanying me though, Suzaku," Euphie said with a kind smile at him. "I've had a lot of fun and I'm glad for the chance to explore the settlement and there's still a lot of places I haven't seen yet."

"Well, maybe during your next vacation, you can check out the sights that we miss today," Suzaku suggested.

"Maybe. I don't know when my next vacation will be though," Euphie said with a small pout and Suzaku couldn't help but admit that she looked rather cute when she pouted like that. He blinked as that thought crossed his mind and quickly shoved it aside, though not before his cheeks heated up a little.

"Well, whenever it is, if you want, I can finish the tour we started today," Suzaku said.

"Really?" Euphie looked excited and she gave him a hug. "Thank you so much, Suzaku."

"Y...You're welcome," Suzaku stammered out, the slight blush on his cheeks growing as he cautiously patted the pinkette's back.

She blushed as well and quickly released him when she realized what she'd done. "S...Sorry about that," she said quickly, looking away in embarrassment.

"It's...It's fine," Suzaku said also in embarrassment.

The two of them stood in an awkward silence before Euphie took a deep breath and straightened up, turning to gaze back at Suzaku. He was surprised to see steely determination in her eyes. "Suzaku, there's one more place I want you to show me today," she said quietly.

"As you command, my lady," Suzaku said with a bow.

"Show me the Shinjuku Ghetto," Euphie said.

Suzaku blinked in surprise. Out of all the places that Euphie could have suggested, he had not expected her to suggest that.

"Suzaku Kururugi, take me to the Shinjuku Ghetto," Euphie repeated firmly.

 **. . .**

"I used to live here," Shintaro said as he led the way into the ruined ghetto, walking past fallen buildings, torn up roads, and broken pieces of knightmare frames. "It was only briefly before I joined the military but...I suppose it's kind of hard to see it like this."

Lana nodded absently, gazing around at the devastation. It was much worse seeing the destruction firsthand rather than hearing about it on the news and she found herself wondering if she'd made the right decision in coming here. She shivered because she knew that she was treading upon the graveyard of so many lives and she felt anger at the terrorists who'd caused this destruction and all of these deaths.

"It's so quiet," she whispered, wrapping her arms around herself. "Too quiet. I feel...I feel like I'm trespassing but...my brother died here so I just want to pay my respects to him and yet..."

"Then don't worry about it, Lala," Shintaro reassured her. "You have every right to pay your respects to your brother."

"Yeah." Lana chewed on her lower lip before she took a deep breath and turned to face Shintaro. She could see that she was alone and she decided that now would be the perfect time to apologize to the kind Eleven for hitting him.

She never got the chance.

"Your Highness!" A shout sounded and Lana resisted the urge to groan in frustration as she turned to find two Britannian soldiers of the 1st Regiment, the regiment her big brother had been in charge of before his untimely passing, hurrying toward her. One of them spotted Shintaro, who was staring at Lana in shock, and pointed his gun at him.

"Step away from Her Highness, Eleven," he said firmly.

Shintaro held up his hands defensively but stepped away.

"Put your weapon away now. This boy is a soldier who is, by my request, acting as my bodyguard," Lana said firmly, removing her sunglasses and tucking them into the pocket of her jacket as she fixed blue eyes on the two soldiers.

Shintaro's eyes went wide as he gazed at her. "It's you," he whispered.

The two soldiers exchanged glances but the first soldier lowered his gun. "Your Highness, is that really wise? He's an Eleven, the same one who was accused of murdering your brother," he said.

"He was acquitted of all charges and is now acting as my bodyguard today," Lana said firmly, drawing herself up to her full, but still diminutive, height. "I, Lana la Britannia, order you to leave. I have no need of your services as of right now."

"The Viceroy wishes for you to return to the Viceroy's Palace immediately, Your Highness," the first soldier said.

"I will return in a little while. There is something that I must take care of before I return," Lana said firmly.

"Your Highness, it is far too dangerous for you to remain out in the open."

"I can take care of myself and I have a bodyguard. I will be fine." _I am not a little kid anymore who needs to have a babysitter everywhere I go. I'm seventeen years old, damn it!_ "Tell the Viceroy that I will be back before dark. You have your orders. Leave now."

The two soldiers still hesitated but, apparently, they hadn't been ordered by Cornelia to drag Lana back kicking and screaming, or something along those lines, because they saluted, stated, "Yes, Your Highness," and walked off. However, they both did cast another set of distrusting glares at Shintaro as they went.

Lana relaxed with a sigh and turned to face Shintaro. He knelt down, crossing his fist over his heart and lowering his head. "Your Highness, I apologize, I did not..." he began.

"You have no need to apologize, Shintaro," Lana said. "I didn't tell you who I was on purpose. Besides, I'm the one who should apologize."

Shintaro lifted his head and gazed at her in confusion. "What?"

"For striking you," Lana said. "I didn't know that you weren't responsible for my brother's death. I just wanted to know why and I now understand that you didn't answer me not because you were being disrespectful or stubborn or just out of anger but rather because you didn't know how to answer."

"Don't apologize, Your Highness," Shintaro said as Lana trailed off. "You only wanted to know why and I don't fault you for that. Besides, I'm used to that kind of treatment so it's not like it really mattered..."

"Why didn't you tell anyone that you were innocent?" Lana blurted out before the auburn-haired Eleven could go on.

Shintaro was silent.

"Did you think they wouldn't believe you?" Lana pressed.

"Would they have believed me if I did?"

Lana sighed, folding her arms across her chest. Shintaro was right and she knew that he was. "I suppose not," she muttered and frowned at the Eleven who was still kneeling in front of her. "Oh stand up already."

Shintaro did as he was told but, before he could say anything else, an explosion sounded nearby and he whipped his head around as a plume of smoke rose up in the distance.

"What just…?" Lana began in confusion but broke off as a large and long trailer suddenly drove into the area in front of them with a tarp-covered mech attached to the back of it. The door opened and a woman with indigo-colored hair hopped out of the trailer's cab.

"Shintaro, there you were. Quick, you and Her Highness had best get inside," she said.

"Major Croomy?" Shintaro said in surprise. "I thought you and Earl Lloyd were going to call me."

"Oh we were," a man with pale-blue hair and glasses resting on the bridge of his nose said, poking his head out of the trailer above the woman, Croomy. "But we saw you with Her Highness and decided to wait. Oh and shame on your acquittal 'cause you're stuck working for me again."

Shintaro sweatdropped. "Yeah, you already told me that earlier," he said just as another explosion sounded in the same area as before.

"What's going on?" Lana demanded.

"Oh, just the purists having a little disagreement. Don't think they realized that the new Viceroy arrived earlier than expected 'cause I don't think they'd be doing something stupid like this if they knew. Eh, not that I care or anything since it's got nothing to do with my projects," Lloyd said with a shrug.

"Get inside, you two. It's safer," Croomy said and gave Lana a polite little bow before gesturing to the trailer.

Lana frowned, gazing at where the plume of smoke was rising. She didn't like this, not only because the soldiers were actually fighting each other but also because they were doing so in the same place were so many people had already lost their lives. It seemed very disrespectful to her.

"Why are they fighting each other? They're on the same side," Shintaro said bewildered as he climbed into the trailer and held out a hand toward Lana. She took it and pulled herself into the trailer as well. "And for them to be fighting here of all places. That's just showing a lot of disrespect for the innocents who died here less than two weeks ago!"

Lana blinked and then smiled, glad someone agreed with her. "We need to stop this fighting," she said firmly. "Earl Lloyd, was it? Take us to the location of this fighting. I'll stop it myself if I have to."

"That is really dangerous, Your Highness," Croomy said.

Lana scowled because she knew that the major was right.

"But another knightmare could try to stop the fighting, right?" Shintaro said suddenly and turned to Lloyd. "Why don't you let me use the _Lancelot_ to stop this? I mean, you want battle data, right?"

Lloyd grinned. "Good idea," he said and, pulling out a white-and-gold activation key, he tossed it at Shintaro who caught it and turned to Lana.

"Stay safe, Your Highness," he said and darted toward the mech.

 _Good luck, Shintaro,_ Lana thought.

 **. . .**

When Suzaku saw the explosion and the plume of smoke that it had created far too close for comfort, he decided that leaving the Shinjuku Ghetto would probably be the best thing to do. "We should go," he said to Euphie.

Their walk in the ghetto had only resulted in one confrontation, in which Euphie slapped the Britannian who'd insulted Suzaku and mistook him for an Honorary Britannian, and Euphie had gotten to look around. She hadn't asked any questions about what happened but, every time they passed a cross or a picture of one of the fallen, she would stop and bow her head.

She didn't talk about what happened, only paid her respects for those who had fallen and continued to walk through the ghetto. He had followed her, quietly talking with her about his time in the Shinjuku Ghetto before he left, leaving out anything that had to do with his work as Lone Wolf, when she asked him if he'd ever been there.

"It looks like someone's fighting," Euphie said, darting over to a window and Suzaku followed her. The window provided an excellent view of the clearing beyond since the rest of the house had been flattened at some point, likely during the battle, and only the wall on which was the window was left standing.

Just as Euphie said, Sutherlands—the Purists judging by the maroon shoulder plate that separated them from other Sutherlands—were fighting each other. Their jousting lances, Stun Tonfas, and Slash Harkens clashing with each other. It was an uneven fight, Suzaku could see; one against three with the one being badly damaged.

Suddenly, another Sutherland shot into the clearing and fought alongside the damaged one.

They were still outnumbered but, to Suzaku's surprise, the white knightmare frame he'd fought against at Shinjuku, suddenly entered the fight, causing the fight to even out. "Looks like it's even on both sides," he said and turned to Euphie. "C'mon, I don't think there's anything we can do now."

Euphie bit her lip. "They shouldn't be fighting. They're allies! I'm gonna put a stop to this," she said firmly and started for the alley that would take her to the clearing.

"Wait, how are you going to stop them?" Suzaku asked, reaching out to grab the pinkette's arm.

She turned to him and gave him a small smile. "If I tell them who I really am, I can take command of this situation. I'm sorry, Suzaku. I didn't tell you who I really was because I wanted to remain anonymous. My real name is Euphemia li Britannia, Third Princess of the Holy Empire of Britannia."

Suzaku let go of Euphie's arm and stared in shock and she patted his arm. "Thank you for taking me on a tour of the settlement, Suzaku. I really am grateful and, hopefully, I can get a break from my duties and take you up on your offer to show me the rest of the settlement. But, for now, I have to stop this."

Without another word, she turned and darted down the alley.

Suzaku started to go after her as he overcame his shock, remembering that Euphemia was the half-sister that Lelouch cared about the most; Lelouch would probably kill him if he let something happen to Euphemia. His phone suddenly began blaring and he stopped, fished his phone out of his pocket, and answered it. "Hello?" he said.

" _Where the hell are you?!_ " A.A.'s furious voice shouted loud enough for Suzaku to yank the phone away from his ear.

"Ow. You didn't have to yell," Suzaku said dryly, watching as Euphie disappeared into the clearing.

" _Get back here. I'm having anime withdrawals,_ " A.A. whined.

" _It's only been an hour. Get over it, otaku bastard,_ " C.C.'s voice snapped.

" _Oh shut up. Get back here with my anime, Suzaku, and hurry up!_ " A.A. said firmly but Suzaku was surprised when he detected a note of unease and...was that fear?...in his voice. The brunet blinked but, before he could reply, a series of explosions sounded nearby.

He ducked instinctively and turned to find that one of the knightmares had released a chaos mine but Euphie was, thankfully, protected by a glowing, diamond-shaped green shield. Relieved that Euphie was all right, Suzaku decided that he may as well head back; Euphie seemed to be safe for the moment and he was sure that, once she revealed who she was, she would be even safer.

"All right. I'm on my way back," Suzaku said into the phone.

" _Good. Make it quick! I wanna know what happens next_ ," A.A. whined.

Suzaku's eye twitched. That whining was going to get on his nerves. He wondered how Lelouch was dealing with A.A.'s whining right now. He supposed he'd ask when he got back. "I'll be there soon," he said and, hanging up, headed down the street.

He paused when he felt the hairs on the back of his neck prick up and he turned around, looking around because he had this odd feeling that someone was watching him. He saw nothing though and, blinking, wondered if he'd just imagined it.

"That was weird," he murmured as he turned and began jogging down the ruined street.

 **. . .**

"Hmm, so you're _his_ counterpart in this timeline," the black-clad figure murmured. He leaned back against the wall of the elevator shaft on the roof of a building near where the fighting was taking place. "You seem similar to _him_ based on what few observations I've made."

He continued to watch the brunet as he walked away. "Will I be able to use you in my game of revenge? Or will your fate be the same as it was last time?"

He didn't know.

But he would think about that later.

Without another word, the black-clad man turned and was swallowed by the darkness of the elevator shaft.

 **. . .**

Lelouch was about ready to hit something, namely the annoying whining otaku A.A. so it was a good thing that Suzaku arrived when he did. A.A. had immediately brightened up like a kid in a candy store when Suzaku handed him the boxset he'd gone to get for him and darted off with a happy "Thanks a bunch."

Lelouch glared at Suzaku as the two of them were left alone in the kitchen. Nunnally was in the living room listening to the radio with Sayoko.

Suzaku blinked at him in confusion. "What?" he said.

" _Never_ leave me alone with an anime-deprived A.A. again," Lelouch growled.

Suzaku smiled sheepishly. "Sorry. I didn't think he'd be that bad," he said.

"He was worse than bad," Lelouch huffed and sighed. "What took you so long anyway? I thought you were just going to the shop to pick up his order."

"Well, I was but then I ran into someone who asked me to show her around the settlement and, since I didn't think I needed to be back right away, I agreed," Suzaku said with a shrug. "By the way, I ran into your sister."

"You did? Which one?" Lelouch asked.

"Euphie, I mean Euphemia," Suzaku said, a light blush on his cheeks when he said the nickname before quickly correcting himself.

Lelouch raised an eyebrow at the use of that nickname before he narrowed his eyes. "If Euphie's here then Cornelia is either also here or not very far behind. Hmm, that means that it's likely Cornelia is the new Viceroy," he murmured. "That...might make things a bit difficult but I should be able to work with this news. So how did you run into Euphie anyway?"

"Erm, well, she kinda...fell on me."

" _Fell_ on you?"

"She was jumping out of a window and I caught her before she hit the ground," Suzaku clarified.

"Why was she jumping out of a window?" Lelouch said bewildered.

"I have no idea."

Lelouch sighed. "Well, no point in worrying about that. It's almost time for dinner so could you go let the annoying otaku and C.C. know?" he said.

"Why me?" Suzaku said.

"I have to finish dinner," Lelouch said with a shrug and wandered over to the oven, smirking as he heard Suzaku grumble about how he didn't want to deal with the annoying otaku. _Payback for leaving me with him for the past several hours,_ he thought as he turned off the stove once it beeped telling him the main course was ready.

 **. . .**

Shintaro swallowed his nervousness as he stood uncertainly in front of the principal of Ashford Academy. Three days had gone by since he'd met Lana; it was now Wednesday morning and Shintaro was also tired on top of being nervous. That was because he hadn't gotten much sleep the night before because of his nerves.

The only reason why he was in this predicament was because Lana had found out that he didn't have much schooling and, as payment for being her bodyguard all day, she'd pulled some strings to get him to attend school. He wasn't entirely sure why but he couldn't exactly tell the princess no.

But he hadn't been in school since before the invasion and so he was going to be behind. Lana had assured him that wouldn't be a problem and that she believed he could catch up quickly enough, though he wasn't sure if she was right.

He sighed inwardly. He didn't know what to make of Lana la Britannia, the princess who'd smacked him when he refused to answer her questions and then actually _apologized_ for smacking him. It just didn't make any sense; what Britannian ever admitted they were wrong, and to an Eleven at that?

 _I guess not all Britannians are like that,_ he thought.

"Since you're part of the military," the principal, Reuben Ashford, said, "you'll be excused from your classes whenever you have a mission or have to work. Your schedule is the same as most others your age but don't be afraid to ask for help if you need it."

 _Not like they would give me any_ _any_ _way,_ Shintaro thought. "Thank you, sir," he said out loud.

"You may head to your first class. Mrs. Everest has already been informed so you will just have to introduce yourself to the class."

"I understand. Thank you," Shintaro said and, turning around, he left the office before heading down the hallway and looked around for his classroom. He found it just as the tardy bell was ringing and made his way into it, immediately aware of the shocked looks he was receiving from everyone else.

"Ah, Mr. Ihara? Principal Ashford said you would be joining us today," Mrs. Everest said with an uncertain smile. "Why don't you introduce yourself to your classmates?"

Shintaro turned to face the class, noticing that most of them were staring at him in disgust and whispering amongst each other. He was surprised to find a familiar pair of amethyst eyes amidst the sea of faces but was relieved to know that Lelouch was all right. He was also surprised to find the familiar brunet form of Suzaku seated beside Lelouch.

 _They're both all right. Thank goodness,_ he thought. "My name is Shintaro Ihara. It's nice to meet all of you," he greeted them politely and ignored the murmurings that were going on among the rest of the students.

"Thank you, Mr. Ihara. Um," Everest began and scanned the students.

Shintaro saw Lelouch lean over and murmur something to Suzaku. Suzaku cast a sharp glance at him but Lelouch just nodded once. Suzaku let out an inaudible sigh and nodded once before murmuring something back.

Then Lelouch stood up. "Shintaro can join Suzaku and I, Mrs. Everest," he said calmly.

That caused all the murmurings and whispers to halt in an instant and everyone whipped their heads around to stare at the black-haired young man.

Shintaro was startled himself. _Why are you doing this, Lelouch? If people know that you know me then it could risk your secret,_ he thought.

"Are you sure, Mr. Lamperouge?" Everest asked warily.

"Yes. Like Suzaku, Shin is an old friend of mine," Lelouch said casually.

"Oh...Okay then. Mr. Ihara, you may take a seat with Mr. Lamperouge and Mr. Kururugi," Everest said, stumbling a little over Suzaku's last name.

"Ah, sure, thanks," Shintaro said and moved over to take a seat on Lelouch's other side. He glance at him, opening his mouth to question him but Lelouch gave him the slightest shake of his head and a slight tug on the collar of his uniform.

 _Meet on the roof._

It had been a while since Shintaro had seen the use of the secret language he, Suzaku, and Lelouch had created in order to help them survive during the invasion. He nodded once in response before turning his gaze back to Everest as she began speaking.

 **. . .**

 _I was not expecting this,_ Lelouch thought, leaning against the railing and overlooking the campus. Suzaku was seated on the ground with his back resting against the railing and his chin resting on his bent knee while his other leg was stretched out in front of him. It was lunchtime and the two of them were gathered on the roof waiting for the arrival of their friend.

"What're we going to do?" he asked.

"I don't think there is anything we really can do at this point," Lelouch said. "I don't know how he got into this school but I suspect that someone with connections pulled some strings behind the curtain. We'll see when he joins us, supposing he hasn't changed completely."

The Shintaro that Lelouch had met was honest to a fault and if that hadn't changed then he would tell Lelouch and Suzaku of just how he'd gotten into the school. Lelouch was curious about just how he managed to do that; even though it wasn't illegal for Ashford to allow Japanese to attend their school, it was against policy and Ashford usually adhered to it, unless strings were pulled behind the scene.

The door to the roof opened and Lelouch turned away from the railing as Shintaro made his way onto the roof, his hands tucked into the pockets of his pants as he kicked the door closed behind him. He gave them a smile in greeting, though his eyes were much more distant than what Lelouch was used to.

"Didn't think I'd see you here. Glad to know you got outta that mess in the Shinjuku Ghetto all right, Lelouch," Shintaro said and nodded his head in greeting to Suzaku who pushed himself to his feet. "And hey Suzaku. Been a while."

"Yeah it has. You look good, Shin. Military life suits you," Suzaku said.

The sarcasm was so strong that it caused Shintaro to cringe and Lelouch to raise an eyebrow.

"Well, it ain't like I had another choice," the auburn-haired Japanese boy muttered. "It was just better for me."

"Better for you?" Suzaku repeated incredulously. "How was working for the bastards who murdered so many of our people, including _my entire family_ , be better for you?" The last words were all but shouted out.

Shintaro looked away, chewing on his lower lip. "Look, I didn't come up here to talk with ya about that. I made my choice," he said.

Suzaku still looked upset and angry but, before he could say anything else to make that reunion more awkward and tense, Lelouch intervened.

"So how did you get into Ashford Academy to begin with?" he asked casually, leaning against the railing and studying his second best friend.

"Funny story actually," Shintaro said with a faint smile, though he looked relieved by the change of subject. "I had just gotten acquitted for the murder of Prince Clovis and was just walking around the settlement when I spotted a girl run into a pole. Like seriously, she ran right into it. She was cute though, which was the only reason I didn't laugh...much. But I asked her if she was okay and I got dragged into giving her a tour of the settlement. We ended up in the Shinjuku Ghetto and that's when she told me who she was. You know, Lelouch, you've got some good looking half-sisters? She really was cute and good at acting. I didn't expect her of being a princess at all!"

"Who are you talking about?" Lelouch asked. _Well, Shin's tendency_ _to ramble at times_ _is still there,_ he thought.

"Oh, right. Her name's Lana la Britannia," Shintaro said.

Lelouch blinked. He knew that Lana had traveled to Area 11 the year earlier to shadow her elder brother and learn more about the political side of Britannia but he hadn't expected the small seventeen year old to actually run into his second best friend. But then he was surprised that Lana was still in Area 11 to begin with; Lana and Clovis's mother was usually very protective and he was surprised that she hadn't pulled Lana out as soon as Clovis's death was made public.

He shoved the memory of the cause, that had drifted into his mind, out. "And how does this explain how you got into this school?" he asked.

"That's simple. Lana found out I didn't have much schooling and pulled some strings to get me into Ashford Academy. Apparently, she's gonna be the new co-Sub-Viceroy," Shintaro explained. "But, hey! I'm happy 'cause I never thought I'd see my two best friends again." He slung an arm around Suzaku's shoulders, nearly knocking the emerald-eyed Japanese teen to the ground.

"Shin! You know I hate it when you do that," Suzaku exclaimed as he struggled to regain his balance. At least it seemed he had gotten over his earlier anger over Shintaro's decision.

Lelouch snickered.

Shintaro shrugged, releasing Suzaku's shoulders. "I know it annoys ya. That's why I do it," he said and slung his shoulders around the still snickering Lelouch, causing him to nearly lose his balance.

His snickering stopped and he gave Shintaro an irritated glower but the auburn-haired Japanese boy just waved it off as he released him. "You're as scrawny as ever, Lelouch," he said, poking Lelouch's arm. "Do ya still hate exercise with a passion?"

 _The way he's acting now is not like how he acted when we met in the Shinjuku Ghetto or, again, when I spoke with him as Zero. It's how he used to always act back when we first met,_ Lelouch thought, not really paying attention to Shintaro's question. _I suppose he was just wearing a mask in Shinjuku and again after I saved him from his execution. It could simply be something that he crafted to get him through military training because, frankly, that is the_ only _explanation for how someone like Shintaro could actually make it through basic training._

"Hello?" Poke. "Lelouch?" Poke. "Anyone in there?" Poke. "Suzaku, he's not responding!"

Lelouch pulled himself from his thoughts and gave his annoying goofball of a friend a glare as he swatted his hand away before the auburn-haired boy could poke him again. "What?" he said.

"You're alive!" Shintaro exclaimed dramatically as he slung his arms around Lelouch's shoulders and hugged him. "I'm so glad!"

Lelouch's eye twitched. "You're as annoying as ever, Shin," he said, pushing his friend off him.

"I do try," Shintaro said brightly. "And you never answered my question."

Lelouch hummed. "Simply put, yes, I do still hate exercise with a passion," he said.

"Speaking of that, lunch is about to end. Don't we have P.E. next?"

"Yes," Suzaku said just as the bell ending lunch rang. The emerald-eyed Japanese boy stretched his arms above his head and turned to Shintaro. "I'll show you to the gym, Shin."

"When classes are over, take him to the clubhouse. I'm sure Milly won't mind having another minion...I mean Student Council member," Lelouch said, turning back to the railing and folding his arms on top of it.

"You aren't coming with?" Shintaro echoed.

"It's P.E., are you really surprised, Shin?" Suzaku said dryly. "C'mon, let's go or we're going to be late. See you later, Lelouch. Try not to skip the rest of your classes again today."

Lelouch waved a hand in dismissal, his gaze still fixed on the campus below.

"It's still a wonder just how you're managing to pass all your classes."

"He's _passing_ all of his classes even though he, apparently, skips a lot of 'em? How the hell?" Shintaro exclaimed.

"It pays to have a very good memory," Lelouch said with a smug smirk.

"C'mon, Shin," Suzaku said and he and Shintaro left.

After they left, Lelouch let the smug smirk fall from his lips as he wandered over to the shadows of the building and pulled out the phone that had vibrated earlier, indicating that he'd received a call. There was only one person who would could call him on that phone; he had only given that number out to two people, Suzaku and the leader of the resistance within the Shinjuku Ghetto.

He sat down and pulled out his phone, dialing the number that had called back and resting the phone against his ear. "Yes?" he said quietly, his voice lower and slightly different due to the modulator attached to his phone.

" _Zero_ ," Naoto Kozuki greeted him. " _I was trying to reach you earlier._ "

"Yes, I know. What is wrong?"

" _We've received reports from a few of our allies. The Blood of the Samurai has been destroyed,_ " Naoto said calmly. " _It's likely that the new Viceroy is seeking to destroy all known resistances in the area and some of my members are worried that she'll target us next_."

Lelouch hummed. "What other resistances are there in the area that Viceroy Cornelia may go after?" he asked.

" _The only one that I know of is the Yamato Alliance but they aren't nearly as big as they once were. They were pretty big until a mistake by their former leader led to Prince Clovis's men nearly succeeding in eradicating the entire resistance. Their new leader, Matsuo, is much more level-headed and they have only been doing simply raids for supplies and food since then,_ " Naoto said.

Lelouch hummed in thought, his mind turning cogs in his mind. "Very well. I will keep an eye on the situation and inform you once I have further orders," he said.

" _Sure thing. I believe it would be best if we remained hidden for the time being,_ " Naoto said.

"I agree."

Lelouch ended the conversation a few minutes later and, stuffing the phone back into his pocket, headed for the stairs.

 **. . .**

 _Next Time: Vision of Annihilation_

 **. . .**

 **A/n what do you think?**

 **Blaze: so _The Stolen Mask_ episode did not go as it did in canon, to the point of being taken out entirely because it just didn't fit in with the story's plot, but I still hope I got a few laughs out of Lelouch, Suzaku, and Shintaro's interaction with each other. That was fun to do.**

 **Bakura: eh**

 **Blaze: ...why do I keep you around again?**

 **Bakura: because I'm your favorite _Yu-Gi-Oh!_ Villain**

 **Ryou: I actually think it is because she likes me**

 **Lelouch: I suspect it is both. So what will happen next?**

 **Blaze: a very different version of Saitama and the identity (i.e. name) of that mysterious person from the end of chapter 4 will be revealed. I still won't tell you who he is, truly, as you will just have to wait and see but he will be named in the next chapter. Plus Satomi will finally make her debut into the plot (since the first chapter is more of an introduction to her character) and more stuff.**

 **Bakura: and how long will we have to wait? Five months?**

 **Blaze: shut up, Bakura. Also, the Japanese may not be right (I researched translations in the hopes of getting it correct) so sorry if it's not. Anyway, I hope to update both this story and _Rise of the Black King_ again before Thanksgiving. We will see if it works. Anyway, I hope that you enjoyed this chapter and reviews, as always, are much appreciated.**


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